The Food and Drug Administration will remove industry representatives from advisory committees and replace them with patients and caregivers, Commissioner Marty Makary announced Thursday. It’s the latest effort by Makary and his boss, health secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., to reduce the influence of the pharmaceutical industry.
Makary announced the change during his first interview as commissioner, with former Fox News host Megyn Kelly. He spent much of the conversation with Kelly lambasting his agency for its ties to industry, and said he was shocked to learn that drug industry representatives are allowed to sit on FDA advisory committees.