PoliticoUS Food and Drug Administration struggles to remain independent amid race for coronavirus cure
- Medical specialist’s abrupt departure from Trump’s Operation Warp Speed is latest sign of clash between public health agency and White House
- Political pressure on FDA is raising alarms among health experts inside and outside the administration
This story is published in a content partnership with POLITICO. It was originally reported by Sarah Owermohle on politico.com on June 3, 2020
Peter Marks was a natural fit for a new White House project tasked with developing a coronavirus vaccine. The cancer specialist spent nearly a decade at the Food and Drug Administration, most recently overseeing the office that approves vaccines and gene therapies.
But Marks quit last month just days after joining US President Donald Trump's Operation Warp Speed, a venture partnering government with private companies in the vaccine race.
He returned to his old FDA job full time after a clash with White House coronavirus coordinator Deborah Birx about how the government was prioritising potential vaccines during a tense meeting of the White House coronavirus task force, according to three people familiar with the event.
Marks quickly realised he would be more useful running the FDA office with ultimate authority over vaccine decisions than being part of a political team, two of those people and a current health official said. A memo to FDA staff said Marks was returning because the White House had assembled enough other experts to do the job.
“That was nonsense,” said the current administration official, who is familiar with Marks' thinking. “He actually quit in disgust.”