FDA Commissioner Marty Makary Resigns After Tumultuous Tenure

President Trump signed off on a plan to fire FDA Commissioner Marty Makary on May 11, 2026, with top food official Jim Diamantas stepping in as interim leader. Makary, installed as FDA head in 2025, faced criticism from the White House for slow-walking the Trump agenda on flavored vapes, despite the FDA approving blueberry- and mango-flavored vapes on May 9, 2026. HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. had previously considered making Makary a figurehead due to management concerns.

Makary firing reports

• ▪Marty Makary faced broad criticism from the White House over his handling of the Food and Drug Administration
• ▪Marty Makary is a Make America Healthy Again advocate
• ▪The Wall Street Journal reported that President Trump signed off on a plan to fire Marty Makary
• ▪Marty Makary was installed as Food and Drug Administration head in 2025
• ▪Multiple outlets reported on May 11, 2026 that President Trump is set to fire Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Marty Makary

Vaping policy controversy

• ▪The Food and Drug Administration approved blueberry- and mango-flavored vapes on May 9, 2026, for the first time in years
• ▪President Trump grew frustrated over the weekend before May 11, 2026 that Marty Makary was slow-walking the Trump agenda on flavored vapes

FDA management dysfunction

• ▪Marty Makary increasingly relied on a small inner circle of advisers to run the Food and Drug Administration
• ▪White House officials began to see Marty Makary as a rogue agent marching to the beat of his own drum
• ▪HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. considered in 2025 making Marty Makary a figurehead at the Food and Drug Administration and installing someone else to run the day-to-day of the agency due to concerns about Makary's management

Pharmaceutical industry complaints

• ▪Pharmaceutical companies started to complain about Marty Makary himself after Dr. Vinay Prasad left the Food and Drug Administration
• ▪Marty Makary hired Dr. Vinay Prasad to run the Vaccines Division at the Food and Drug Administration
• ▪Complaints from pharmaceutical companies were something White House officials had in mind as they considered whether to talk to Trump about Marty Makary
• ▪Dr. Vinay Prasad is no longer at the Food and Drug Administration

Mifepristone review failure

• ▪Marty Makary approved a generic form of mifepristone, the abortion pill
• ▪Marty Makary told people inside the administration he needed a new data system to produce the mifepristone review, a system that won't be up and running until the earliest end of 2026 or early 2027
• ▪Marty Makary made explicit promises to produce a mifepristone safety review in his early days as Food and Drug Administration commissioner but never did
• ▪Marty Makary told people he had to legally approve a generic form of mifepristone but told The Wall Street Journal he could have slow-walked it and didn't

Succession planning

• ▪White House officials will need to land on an acting official to lead the Food and Drug Administration after Marty Makary's departure
• ▪The White House will have to come up with a new Food and Drug Administration nominee at the same time as putting forward nominees for CDC and surgeon general

Perspective of Pharmaceutical companies

• ▪Pharmaceutical companies started to complain about Marty Makary himself after Dr. Vinay Prasad left the Food and Drug Administration

Perspective of Anti-abortion groups

• ▪Marty Makary made explicit promises to produce a mifepristone safety review in his early days as Food and Drug Administration commissioner but never did

Perspective of White House officials

• ▪White House officials began to see Marty Makary as a rogue agent marching to the beat of his own drum
• ▪President Trump grew frustrated over the weekend before May 11, 2026 that Marty Makary was slow-walking the Trump agenda on flavored vapes