Dr. Vinay Prasad, controversial critic of Food and Drug Administration of the United States who played a leading role in the regulation agency in May, resigned less than three months.
“Dr. Prasad did not want to be a distraction in the great work of the FDA in the Trump administration and decided to return to California and spend more time with his family,” a spokesman for the United States Ministry of Health and Social Services.
Prasad, an oncologist hematologist, was appointed head of the FDA biological assessment and research center at the beginning of May, giving it a meaning on vaccines and biological drugs. It was then also given the role of head of the FDA in chief medical and scientific. As a number of people named by the health of the Trump administration, Prasad had been a severe critic of the government’s response and vaccination policies during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The departure of Prasad came in the middle of the new pressure from the White House so that he resigns, according to a person familiar with the question which obtained anonymity to describe the internal dynamics, and followed the days of criticism of Laura Loomer, a right -wing activist with extraordinary access to President Donald Trump.
Loomer had taken him on his website and on social networks, the striker publicly for days as a “progressive left saboteur” which “knows the FDA of President Trump”.
Loomer focused on previous publications and podcast episodes of Prasad, where she said that he had aligned himself politically with liberal politicians and expressed the “disdain” for Trump. His posts were followed by other figures, including the former American senator, Rick Santorum, who called Prasad “Man destroying the inheritance @potus for helping patients”, and an opinion of the Wall Street Journal, “Vinay Prasad is an acolyte of Bernie Sanders to Maha Drag”.
Prasad did not respond to requests for comments. A White House spokesperson returned a request for comments to HHS.
Prasad had been defended by the FDA commissioner, Dr. Marty Makary, just a few days ago; In an interview with Politico, Makary said that Prasad is an “impeccable scientist … One of the greatest scientific spirits of our generation”.
“We thank him for his service and the many important reforms he was able to make in his time at the FDA,” said HHS spokesperson.
Prasad assumed its role to the FDA after years of vocal criticism of some of the agency’s drug approvals. In particular, he had made his decision to approve the drug of Sarepta for the muscular dystrophy of Duchenne, Elecidys, arguing that there was little evidence that helped or reverse the symptoms of the rare and deadly genetic disorder.
This month, the FDA asked Sarepta to stop medication expeditions after a reported death in a young patient in Brazil. One day before the departure of Prasad, the agency made a surprising reversal and allowed Sarepta to resume shipments for certain patients.
Prasad also aroused criticism from former officials and vaccine experts after Mayy internal memos revealed that he has exceeded FDA scientists on recommendations for two new versions of COVVI-19 vaccines. The director of CDER reprimanded the recommendations for a wide use of shots; The FDA finally approved vaccines to use in the elderly and immunocompromised but did not recommend them for young Americans who have no underlying conditions.
