FDA’s Makary touts ‘healing’ following DOGE cuts

FDA commissioner credits himself with ‘healing’ agency after DOGE cuts

Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Commissioner Marty Makary commemorated one year as head of the country’s drug regulatory authority on Wednesday, saying he helped bring “healing” to the agency following cuts by the Trump administration’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE). 

In a press call, Makary highlighted the changes that have occurred at the FDA since he came into power. He pointed to a higher rate of new medication approvals, shorter review times, and was particularly excited about his agency’s embrace of artificial intelligence tools. 

Scientific reviewers are being given AI tools to evaluate medications, but that doesn’t mean that reviewers will be replaced by the technology, he said.

“The AIs are not making decisions on the drugs, but the AI tool can demonstrate the concordance rate of an application with other approved products. The AI tool will cut the filing period from 60 days to a matter of minutes.”

Throughout his remarks, he repeatedly discussed the staff at the FDA, where roughly 3,500 employees received Reduction In Force notices last year because of DOGE cuts. A significant portion of these RIF-ed staffers were subsequently brought back. 

“I came to the FDA at a very tough time, immediately following the DOGE restructuring. While some of those changes made sense with consolidation of IT and procurement services and some of the shared services. It was a hard time for the agency, and I plan to acknowledge that with the staff today when I talk to them,” he said.  

Makary said he convinced staffers considering retirement to stay on and got rid of plans for major reorganizations within the agency. He cited staffing reinstatements as having helped make “significant progress in healing.” 

Welcome to The Hill’s Health Care newsletter, I’m Joseph Choi — every week we follow the latest moves on how Washington impacts your health.

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How policy will be impacting the health care sector this week and beyond:

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Chemicals in plastics linked to newborn deaths, premature births: Research

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Branch out with a different read:

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Local and state headlines on health care:

After man’s death following insurance denials, West Virginia tackles prior authorization (KFF Health News) 

New state mental health center set to open doors in Newark (New Jersey Monitor) 

Iowa Senate drops insurer, managed care limits from subacute mental health bill (Iowa Capital Dispatch) 

Health news we’ve flagged from other outlets:

NIH director’s invocation of Vannevar Bush’s legacy to promote Trump science policies sparks pushback (Stat)  

Hospitals need to up their game on the food they serve, federal officials say (MedPage Today) 

Making custom CRISPR therapies could be harder than initially thought (Endpoints News) 

Opinions related to health submitted to The Hill:

Seniors can’t afford Washington’s stealth Medicare cuts

Is RFK Jr. trying to make the lives of autistic Americans as hard as possible?

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