Peter Marks, the FDA official pressured to resign over his disagreements with HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., warned in an interview that Kennedy's tenure at the HHS has been "very scary" so far. In his resignation letter, Marks said he had been "willing" to work to address Kennedy's "concerns" about vaccine transparency and safety but determined Kennedy only wanted "subservient confirmation of his misinformation and lies."
A day after deep FDA cuts rocked their world, drug and med tech companies faced another potentially big hit when President Trump announced a baseline 10% tariff on U.S. imports.
President Donald Trump's 25% trade tariffs on Canadian pharmaceuticals are expected to increase costs in the United States and strain drug supply chains, according to an analysis published this week in JAMA.
Around 3,500 employees are on the chopping block at the FDA, but they don't yet know who they are. The Health and Human Services Department on Thursday announced a sweeping plan to cut 10,000 jobs and consolidate operations across its sub-agencies. FDA drug, medical device, or food reviewers and inspectors will not be among those fired, according to an HHS fact sheet.
Walgreens is set to close 500 stores in 33 states as part of the drugstore chain's plans to shutter 1,200 locations in the coming years as major retailers across the U.S. face a crisis.
Johnson & Johnson has laid out plans to raise U.S. investments by 25% to more than $55 billion over the next four years, as a threat of drug import duties by the Trump administration compels companies to expand their manufacturing operations domestically. The pharmaceutical giant plans to build four new plants as part of its investment, one of which would be set up in Wilson, North Carolina, where it officially broke ground earlier in the day. J&J did not disclose where it plans to build the other plants.