13 Months and Out: Makary Pushed Out at FDA

Before he was pushed out as commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration, Dr. Marty Makary managed to alienate an impressively large and diverse array of interests.

Makary officially resigned Tuesday after leading the agency for only 13 months. The Wall Street Journal reported that President Donald Trump had approved a plan to fire him before that. But it was Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. who reportedly made the decision to get rid of him. The move was months in the making.

“Successes”

Makary got a rare and amicable sendoff from Trump, whose chief of staff reportedly encouraged her boss to oust the FDA chief. Trump called Makary a “wonderful man.” He also shared on his Truth Social channel the resignation text message that Makary sent the president on Tuesday. In it, Makary brags that, under his watch, the FDA implemented 50 reforms, including reducing drug reviews from one year to no more than two months, new guidance for psychedelics, introducing a “new plausible mechanism” pathway for rare disease drugs, and changing estrogen labels “to tell women the truth about menopausal hormone replacement.”

With Makary at the helm, the FDA took action against food dyes. The agency worked with the makers of ultraprocessed foods to incrementally get rid of artificial colors by 2027. The agency also ended blanket approval for the Covid-19 “vaccine.” It pulled back approval to people over 65, which triggered hysteria among members of Congress, who ended up grilling Kennedy during hearings.

Kennedy, now Makary’s former boss, also offered a complimentary sendoff. “Marty, you took on entrenched interests, challenged the status quo, and never lost sight of the American people we serve,” Kennedy said in an X post. “You pushed forward critical reforms and helped advance our mission to Make America Healthy Again. I’m grateful for your courage and your friendship. Wishing you the very best in your next chapter.”

But that seems to be where the niceties end.

Makary’s Opposition

Republican Missouri Senator Josh Hawley broadcast his glee in a social media post. Hawley’s beef with Makary reflects the frustrations of the anti-abortion lobby:

This is welcome news. Dr. Makary was uniquely destructive to the prolife movement. He attempted to place pro-abortion lawyers in key positions. He slow walked a vitally necessary review of the abortion drug mifepristone. He used his discretion to approve a new abortion drug when the data shows it sends 1 in 10 women to the emergency room. He froze out prolife leaders and repeatedly stonewalled Congress. His resignation is an opportunity for the FDA to reset.

Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America President Marjorie Dannenfelser is likely also happy with this development. Earlier this month, she said Makary should be “fired immediately.”

Another person who turned on Makary was Dr. Robert Malone, who emerged as one of the most powerful critics of the Medical Mafia during the Covid era. Malone also served a short stint as the vice chair of the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, or ACIP, the federal committee that makes vaccine recommendations. He quit at the end of March.

In February, Malone went public with his frustration over Makary’s refusal, as head of FDA, to remove Covid “vaccines” from the market. Malone said on social media that Makary was the obstacle to getting rid of the jab. As far as the MAHA coalition is concerned, not eliminating the jab is one the biggest failures of the Kennedy-run HHS.

Later on, Malone told the Redacted podcast that Makary was suppressing statistics about the deaths of children caused by the Covid jab. Malone said he was frustrated about “the suppression of key findings such as the pediatric deaths that are not being allowed to be released to the public.” When asked who was standing in the way, he named Makary.

Trump, Big Pharma, Vaping

According to the Journal, Trump too was growing tired of Makary. The president reportedly complained that the FDA chief hadn’t worked hard enough to facilitate “Right to Try” legislation, which would make experimental drugs more easily accessible to terminally ill patients. Sources told the paper that “Trump repeatedly brought up a cancer drug he said Makary wouldn’t approve.”

Big Pharma also wanted Makary out. “Pharmaceutical-industry insiders were coming to the White House with complaints, as executives from Massachusetts-based Replimune Group did last week, and some were calling for Makary’s removal,” the Journal reported.

Vaping was another major issue that led to Makary’s fall. Executives from Reynolds American, which makes vaping products, visited Trump on the golf course to complain about the FDA’s refusal to approve their wares. In their report, CNN claims to have talked to someone “familiar with Makary’s departure” who said his ousting was “was largely due to disagreements over the vape issue.” The Journal says this was the last straw:

One final battle emerged over the FDA’s handling of flavored vapes, which advisers told Trump were essential to retaining young MAGA voters. But Makary had overruled scientific staff at the FDA to stall authorization of blueberry- and mango-flavored vapes from an American manufacturer, concerned about public-health risks.

Senior HHS officials also wanted Makary gone. According to Politico, an anonymous FDA  staffer who sounds like a career agency bureaucrat said of Makary: “He will not be missed by a single career person. And we will only regret it when they manage to find someone worse.”

Not the First to Go

Makary’s exit is part of an agency pattern. As Children’s Health Defense noted, a number of high-profile people who were aligned with Kennedy have left the agency recently, including HHS Deputy Secretary Jim O’Neill (he left in February); Dr. Ralph Abraham, who resigned as principal deputy director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (also left in February); and former director of the FDA’s Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research (CBER) Dr. Vinay Prasad, who left in April.

Although he was like other high-profile HHS figures who were critical of Covid-era rules and policies by the time he took over the FDA, Makary initially supported lockdowns and masking. He later turned against them after seeing the obvious economic and social harms they were wreaking. He also had a problem with the CDC inflating the numbers of Covid deaths and the government’s forced vaccination attempts, though he did not oppose the vaccines themselves, which makes more sense today in light of the criticism from Malone and many in the MAHA movement.

The FDA Goes On

FDA Deputy Commissioner for Food Kyle Diamantas is taking over as acting commissioner while the agency looks for someone to permanently fill the position. Kennedy said Diamantas’ leadership “has already delivered remarkable wins on the MAHA food agenda.” Diamantas is a corporate lawyer by trade; while most FDA officials do, he doesn’t have a medical degree.

The FDA supposedly has the enormous responsibility of ensuring that drugs, vaccines, food, cosmetics, and even medical supplies are safe for the public. But critics argue the agency has been captured by corporate interests and even politics. The FDA approved the mRNA Covid-19 shot, which has a well-documented record of harm and is perhaps one of the most glaring examples of a failed policy. The FDA recalls thousands of items a year. From 2012 to 2026, it recalled 39,000 medical devices; 16,658 drugs; and 12,362 “biologic” products, which includes vaccines. Most of the items in these categories were previously approved by the FDA itself.

Unconstitutional

Like most federal agencies, the FDA has no constitutional permission to exist. Given that the government is broke and the agency fails thousands of times a year, perhaps the American people would be better served if the agency were retired instead of reformed. There is nothing stopping states from carrying out the official duties of the FDA.