Marty Makary resigned from his position as commissioner of the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on [May 12, 2026], concluding a 13-month tenure at the regulatory agency that frequently drew the ire of the White House, Congress, industry and the public ….
Kyle Diamantas, who previously worked as the top food official at the agency setting the strategic direction and operations for food policy in the US, will be Makary’s acting replacement. …
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Trump signed off on a plan to fire Makary earlier this month, after the president scolded the FDA chief for not approving fruit-flavored vapes, according to the Wall Street Journal.
“He seems fine,” Trump responded when asked about Makary on [May 8, 2026]. When pressed if he would fire Makary, Trump said: “I’ve been reading about it, but I know nothing about it.”
The vapes weren’t the first stand Makary had taken as the FDA chief. He also clashed with lawmakers on Capitol Hill about drug regulation decisions and a review of mifepristone, an abortion medication, that conservative members of Congress accused him of slow-walking.
The FDA also reportedly stopped the publication of research on the safety of vaccines against shingles and Covid. …
Related on the SLP
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“Vaccines have really gotten their attention,” said Peter Lurie, the executive director of the Center for Science in the Public Interest …. “They do understand that they’ve gone too far for the American people on vaccines.”
Waves of layoffs and the appointment of inexperienced officials have created a “massive upheaval that has been an ongoing feature of daily work at FDA ever since the new administration began”, Lurie said. “It’s just endless chaos.”
