Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Marty Makary has left his post after 13 months in the administration, President Donald Trump confirmed Tuesday. The president noted that Makary was experiencing some difficulty while leading the agency responsible for overseeing the food supply and regulating vaccines and medical treatments.
Trump declined to specify if Makary had resigned or been fired, but described him as a great doctor and a friend. The president added that the deputy commissioner will take over temporarily until a replacement is found.
The FDA Deputy Commissioner for Food, Kyle Diamantas, has been named acting commissioner by the White House.
Multiple sources told The New York Times that Makary resigned due to concerns regarding the administration's decision to authorize fruit-flavored electronic cigarettes. This follows a Wednesday approval by the FDA for such products made by Glas, a Los Angeles-based company, after reports that Trump pressured Makary to accelerate the approval process.
Makary reportedly objected to the approval because of the appeal these products have to young people.
During his tenure, Makary frequently aligned with the Make America Healthy Again policies led by Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
Makary also faced friction with biotech industry leaders after defending a decision by Dr. Vinay Prasad of the FDA's drug division to limit access to certain new drugs for rare diseases. Additionally, Politico reported that Makary drew criticism from anti-abortion Republicans regarding the telehealth prescription of the abortion pill mifepristone.
Before his time in the administration, Makary served as a cancer surgeon and health policy researcher at Johns Hopkins University.
