Dr. Marty Makary, the embattled head of the Food and Drug Administration, is resigning after 13 months atop the agency — a tenure marked by staff cuts, leadership churn, questions about his management and repeated clashes with the White House, the pharmaceutical industry and lawmakers.
“He’s going to go on and he’s going to lead a good life,” President Trump said of Makary, confirming the resignation. “He was having some difficulty. He’s a great doctor. He’s going to go on and do well. Everybody wants that job.”
Kyle Diamantas, the top food official at the FDA, will reportedly lead the agency as acting commissioner.
The move comes just days after reports that Trump had signed off on firing Makary. Trump reportedly had been angry that Makary was slow to authorize fruit-flavored vapes, which the president had pledged to bring back as part of his 2024 campaign. The FDA announced a week ago that it had authorized the vapes for adults.
Drugmakers criticized Makary over what they saw as inconsistency in FDA reviews of their products. The agency also faced criticism that its scientific work was increasingly guided by political pressure. And Republican lawmakers and anti-abortion activists criticized Makary over his handling of a review of the abortion pill mifepristone. Many conservatives want to see access to the drug restricted by reversing a Biden-era change that allowed for it to be dispensed via telehealth visits and the mail.
The bottom line: Makary’s departure is the latest in a string of high-profile personnel changes in the upper ranks of the Trump administration over the past few months, following the firings of former Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and former Attorney General Pam Bondi and the resignation under pressure of former Labor Secretary Lori Chavez DeRemer. Trump also recently withdrew his nomination of Casey Means to be surgeon general after she failed to secure the Senate support needed for confirmation. The latest personnel drama adds to long-running concerns about turmoil at the Department of Health and Human Services under Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.