Dr. Marty Makary is out as FDA commissioner

Dr. Marty Makary is out as commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration, the fourth high-profile departure of a member of the Trump administration this year, according to two people familiar with the decision. It comes several days after NBC News reported that President Donald Trump was considering canning Makary after months of dissatisfaction with some of his work at the FDA. The news was first reported by Politico. Last Tuesday, the FDA announced that it had authorized fruit-flavored vapes for adults in the U.S., after months of pressure from the industry and the president. Bringing back fruit-flavored vapes and e-cigarettes was a key campaign promise Trump made in 2024. Makary had also faced scrutiny from Republican lawmakers on Capitol Hill after he promised during his confirmation process to conduct an FDA review of the safety of the abortion medication mifepristone. Republicans have been pushing for a reversal of a Biden-era rule that allows mifepristone to be mailed and dispensed via telehealth, not just in-person. The Supreme Court earlier this month temporarily allowed mifepristone to continue to be accessible nationwide after a lower court restricted access to in-person patients only. The FDA has so far not released its review of the abortion pills, and Bloomberg News reported that Makary asked officials to delay the release until after the midterm elections. Makary was a longtime surgeon at Johns Hopkins Hospital and is a professor emeritus at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine. His departure from the Trump administration marks the fourth high-profile firing by the president this year. Since January, former Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and former Attorney General Pam Bondi have been let go. In April, former Labor Secretary Lori Chavez DeRemer resigned her post amid a misconduct probe.