RFK Jr.’s FDA Rocked by Chief’s Abrupt Exit, Staff Exodus & Conduct Investigation
Washington D.C. – The Food adn Drug Management is in turmoil following the sudden resignation of its drug unit chief, George Tidmarsh, and revelations of a conduct investigation, adding too a growing wave of disruption under Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s leadership.
Tidmarsh’s departure comes amid a lawsuit alleging he attempted to extort a “former business associate,” Aurinia Pharmaceuticals’ Jing Tang. Tidmarsh denied the allegations in an interview with Stat News. The lawsuit, as reported by the New York Times, claims Tidmarsh “attempted to extort” Tang.
Prior to his resignation, Tidmarsh was placed on administrative leave after the FDA’s office of the general counsel and office of the inspector general were alerted to “serious concerns about his personal conduct,” an FDA spokesperson confirmed to the Times.
Tidmarsh’s tenure at the FDA was also marked by criticism of a shift away from expert review of new drugs. He previously stated that advisory committee meetings for new drugs are “a tremendous amount of work for the company and for the FDA. We want to use that work and our time to focus on the big questions,” according to CBS News.
The leadership vacuum has sparked alarm within the agency. Axios reported on text messages from FDA staffers expressing “dismay” and a growing desire to leave, particularly given the recent departure of experienced career officials. A former FDA staffer told Axios, “I don’t know that I’ve talked to anyone who’s happy there.”
Tidmarsh’s exit is the latest in a series of significant personnel changes within the HHS since Kennedy Jr. took office. Earlier this year, the HHS fired thousands of staff, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention saw several top officials resign in protest of kennedy’s policies.In June, Kennedy Jr. dismissed all members of the CDC’s vaccine advisory committee. Last month, six former U.S. Surgeons General published an op-ed warning that Kennedy Jr.poses a “profound, immediate and unprecedented threat” to Americans’ health and urging his resignation, as reported by Gizmodo.
