FDA names former pharmaceutical company executive to oversee US drug program
FDA Commissioner Marty Makary
announced that Dr. George Tidmarsh, a cancer and pediatric specialist, will direct the agency's Center for Drug Evaluation and Research, which regulates the safety and effectiveness of all U.S. drugs.
His appointment comes a month after the center's acting director, Dr. Jacqueline Corrigan-Curay, announced her retirement.
As the agency's top drug regulator, Tidmarsh will be charged with following through on a number of
commitments made by Makary
and his boss, Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., including reviewing the
safety of the abortion pill mifepristone
. The FDA is also scrutinizing certain uses of other long-established drugs, including antidepressants and hormone-replacement drugs for menopause.
Tidmarsh founded and led several pharmaceutical companies, including Horizon Pharmaceuticals, maker of an anti-inflammatory medication for arthritis. He has also served as an adjunct professor at Stanford University.
The FDA's drug center is the agency's largest unit, with nearly 6,000 staffers responsible for reviewing the safety and effectiveness of new drugs and monitoring the use and marketing of older drugs.
About 2,000 FDA staffers have been laid off as part of widescale
cuts to the federal health workforce overseen by Kennedy
. More than 1,000 others have taken buyouts or early retirement, while many others are reportedly searching for new jobs. The departures have threatened basic FDA operations, including the timely review of new drugs.
FDA's drug center hasn't had a permanent director since January, when Dr. Patrizia Cavazzoni stepped down days before President Donald Trump took office.
Nearly all of the FDA's senior leadership positions have turned over in recent months, either due to retirements, resignations or actions by administration officials placing them on administrative leave.
FDA center directors typically hold their positions for years or even decades, serving across multiple administrations, whether Republican or Democrat.
In May, Makary named Dr. Vinay Prasad, a prominent
critic of the FDA's COVID response
, to run the agency's vaccine center. He was also named to the post of FDA chief medical officer. Prasad joined the agency after his predecessor, longtime vaccine chief Dr. Peter Marks,
was forced out in March
.
The
head of FDA's tobacco center was also forced to step down
in April. A permanent replacement has not yet been named.
___
The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute's Department of Science Education and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The AP is solely responsible for all content.
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The agency said it not only works to prevent and control infectious diseases, but also inspects more than 57,000 food facilities and restaurants, tests and issues alerts about beach water quality, looks over safety issues at healthcare facilities and responds to public health emergencies, such as the region's recent wildfires. 'The President's proposed budget ... would continue a dismantling of core public health activities and severely reduce funding for federal public health grant programs, including a 55% cut to the CDC, our main source of federal grant funds,' the L.A. County Department of Public Health said. L.A. County could lose more than $200 million in annual public health funding under the budget proposal, the agency added, which would eliminate or significantly cut funding for public health emergency preparedness, chronic disease prevention, vaccination efforts and worker safety programs. Among the concerns is the sudden termination of more than $45 million in previously awarded federal grant funds that support infectious disease control efforts and lab capacity, vaccination campaigns and substance use prevention. A federal court has temporarily paused the Trump administration's efforts to claw back those federal funds, the county said. 'But if we do not win this case, that funding will be abruptly terminated, leading to layoffs of dozens of contract employees, terminated purchase orders, and reductions in funding for [community-based organizations] supported by these funds,' the county said.
