Robert F. Kennedy jr. The mission to “make America healthy again” doesn’t seem to be going well. A new “Health Czar” continues to oversee America’s most critical health agencies – a development that clearly does no good to Americans or their health. Case in point: This weekend, the drug administration was thrown into the spotlight after one of its top drug controllers left his post.
George Tidmarsh was the former head of the FDA’s agency for drug testing and research. However, a lawsuit filed Sunday by Aurinia Pharmaceuticals, a Canadian company, sought misconduct from Tidmarsh, TheNaling In a LinkedIn post, Tidmarsh apparently criticized voclosporin, a drug from aurinia designed to treat Lupus Nephritis, an autoimmune disease. He reportedly wrote that Voclosporin “has not been shown to provide a direct clinical benefit for patients” (the lawsuit says these are “false and defamatory statements”). He also deleted the post, even though the lawsuit says Aurinia’s stock was down 20 percent because of the comments, he wrote.
In addition, the suit claims that TIDMARSH has engaged in a retaliatory campaign against the company’s board chairman, Kevin Tang. “Over the next six years, Dr Tidmarsh repeatedly threatened to retaliate against Mr Tang,” the lawsuit said, according to ABC. The New York Times added that the lawsuits Tidmarsh “tried to take out” Tang, who has been described as Tidmarsh’s “ex-decorated business”. In an interview with the newspaper, Tidmarsh rejected the allegations.
Tidmarsh has also been criticized in the past because, under his leadership, the FDA has moved away from peer review of new drugs, CBS previously reported. Tidmarsh was quoted as saying that the New Drug Advisory Committee meetings “are the most important part of the company’s work with the FDA. We want to use that work and our time to focus on the big questions.”
Either way, with Tidmarsh’s surprise exit, that leaves the FDA in a state of flux. In documents shared with axios, FDA officials expressed confusion at Rooseng’s chaos at the agency. Those text messages, while not directly shared with readers, are described by the outlet as showing “people disturbed by the turmoil and motivated to leave the agency — threatened by job openings.” Axios also spoke to former FDA employees and found out more:
Gizmodo reached out to HHS and FDA for comment. We also sent Mr Tidmarsh a direct message and reached out to Aurinia Pharmaceuticals. An FDA spokesperson told the Times that, prior to his resignation, Tidmarsh had been placed on administrative leave “behind the office of the general counsel and the office of the General Counsel and his office.”
Although he was not in office very long, Kennedy’s Remical reign as America’s health care was marked by major disruptions and men within HHS. Many agencies have seen significant turnover and layoffs. Earlier this year, HHS fired thousands of employees and, more recently, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention saw several top officials resign in protest of Kennedy’s policies. Kennedy also fired all members of the CDC’s Policy Reform Committee. Last month, in an unprecedented move, the former US surgeon general wrote to Kennedy as a “deep, unprecedented” threat to American life and suggested he step down.
