FDA vaccines chief to leave agency amid controversy
The head of the US Food and Drug Administration’s vaccine and biologic medicines division, Dr. Vinay Prasad, will depart at the end of April, a spokesperson confirmed on Friday, reports BritPanorama.
Dr. Prasad joined the FDA in May and has overseen controversial decisions regarding vaccines, including a recent refusal to review a new flu vaccine using messenger RNA technology developed by Moderna. After public criticism, the agency accepted the application with modifications.
FDA Commissioner Dr. Marty Makary has not yet chosen a successor to lead the agency’s Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research. He mentioned this in a social media post on Friday.
Prasad’s departure was first reported by the Wall Street Journal. Notably, he had previously left the agency in July, only to rejoin weeks later amid accusations from White House allies, including Laura Loomer, who claimed he held liberal views and displayed “disdain” for President Donald Trump.
More recently, CBER has faced scrutiny over its requests for additional trial data from UniQure, a company developing a gene therapy for Huntington’s disease. In an unusual move, FDA officials held a media call on Thursday to defend their decisions and counteract critics.
Prasad, while a professor at the University of California, San Francisco, was an outspoken critic of the government’s Covid-19 response and had also questioned the actions of his predecessor, Dr. Peter Marks, regarding the approval of new medicines that he deemed insufficiently supported by evidence.
As the FDA navigates these challenges, the implications of leadership changes and decision-making processes remain a focal point for public health discourse.
