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<\/p>\n Email Link<\/p>\n \n Dr. Vinay Prasad, the controversial critic of the US Food and Drug Administration who took a top role at the regulatory agency in May, has resigned less than three months into the job.\n <\/p>\n \n \u201cDr. Prasad did not want to be a distraction to the great work of the FDA in the Trump administration and has decided to return to California and spend more time with his family,\u201d a spokesperson for the US Department of Health and Human Services told CNN on Tuesday.\n <\/p>\n \n Prasad, a hematologist oncologist, was named head of the FDA\u2019s Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research in early May, giving him purview over vaccines and biologic medicines. He was subsequently also given the role of FDA chief medical and scientific officer. Like a number of Trump administration health appointees, Prasad had been a harsh critic of the government\u2019s response and vaccine policies during the Covid-19 pandemic.\n <\/p>\n \n Prasad\u2019s departure came amid fresh pressure from the White House for him to resign, according to a person familiar with the matter who was granted anonymity to describe the internal dynamics, and followed days of criticism from Laura Loomer, a right-wing activist with extraordinary access to President Donald Trump.\n <\/p>\n \n Loomer had taken shots at him on her website and on social media, attacking him publicly for days as a \u201cprogressive leftist saboteur\u201d who was \u201cundermining President Trump\u2019s FDA.\u201d\n <\/p>\n \n Loomer focused on Prasad\u2019s previous social media posts and podcast episodes, where she said he aligned himself politically with liberal politicians and expressed \u201cdisdain\u201d for Trump. Her posts were followed by others from figures including former US Sen. Rick Santorum<\/a>, who called Prasad \u201cthe man destroying @POTUS legacy for helping patients,\u201d and a Wall Street Journal opinion<\/a> piece headlined, \u201cVinay Prasad Is a Bernie Sanders Acolyte in MAHA Drag.\u201d\n <\/p>\n \n Prasad didn\u2019t respond to requests for comment. A White House spokesperson referred a request for comment to HHS.\n <\/p>\n \n Prasad had been defended by FDA Commissioner Dr. Marty Makary just days ago; in an interview<\/a> with Politico, Makary said Prasad is an \u201cimpeccable scientist \u2026 one of the greatest scientific minds of our generation.\u201d\n <\/p>\n \n \u201cWe thank him for his service and the many important reforms he was able to achieve in his time at FDA,\u201d the spokesperson for HHS said.\n <\/p>\n \n Prasad assumed his role at the FDA after years of being a vocal critic of some of the agency\u2019s drug approvals. In particular, he had railed against a decision to approve Sarepta\u2019s drug for Duchenne muscular dystrophy, Elevidys, arguing that there was little evidence it helped stall or reverse symptoms of the rare, fatal genetic disorder.\n <\/p>\n \n This month, the FDA requested<\/a> that Sarepta halt shipments of the drug after a reported death in a young patient in Brazil. Just one day before Prasad\u2019s departure, the agency made a surprising reversal and allowed Sarepta to resume shipments<\/a> for certain patients.\n <\/p>\n
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