Fourth high-profile Trump official is out as FDA chief resigns

The head of the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has resigned after weeks of public speculation and a mounting pressure campaign waged by allies of Donald Trump, pharmaceutical companies and anti-abortion groups.

Dr Marty Makary's departure during Mr Trump's second presidency follows the firings of former homeland security secretary Kristi Noem and former attorney general Pam Bondi as well as the resignation of former labour secretary Lori Chavez DeRemer amid a misconduct probe.

Mr Trump confirmed Dr Makary's departure on Tuesday, telling reporters at the White House: "Marty is a terrific guy, but he's going to go on and he's going to lead a good life. He was having some difficulty."

He added that the deputy commissioner for food Kyle Diamantas would replace Dr Makary as commissioner temporarily. Mr Diamantas is a lawyer with personal ties to Donald Trump Jr.

Dr Makary's resignation comes after weeks of intensifying pressure from powerful Trump allies, supporters of Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s Make America Healthy Again movement, conservative media, pharmaceutical companies, and anti-abortion groups.

He was criticised for his handling of reintroducing flavoured vapes into the US market, a stalled abortion-pill review and public disagreements with drugmakers over reviews for vaccines, gene therapies and other rare-disease drugs.

Dr Makary, a surgical oncologist who was a vocal critic of vaccine mandates during the COVID-19 pandemic, was confirmed as FDA commissioner in March 2025.

He led a drastically smaller agency after cuts by the Trump administration and its Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) forced out thousands of employees.

Most of the FDA's senior officials resigned, retired or were forced out in the first year of Mr Trump's second term in office, leading to a steady stream of leaks and negative stories in the media reporting low morale, dysfunction and frustration among agency staff.

The FDA had five different vaccine chiefs in the span of a year, including one who was fired, hired back a month later, before leaving again less than a year after that.

The White House has gotten more involved in the health agency in recent months and has sought more conventional candidates for top health jobs.

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Finding such candidates has often proven difficult, including in the ​search for an FDA head. This is because many are wary of working under Mr Kennedy, who has supported views that contradict scientific evidence.

The FDA commissioner is often required to juggle competing priorities that straddle science and politics, with Dr Makary having to balance calls by Mr Trump and other Republicans to cut red tape at the FDA, while also tending to Mr Kennedy's interest in scrutinising the safety of vaccines, drugs and food additives.

(c) Sky News 2026: Fourth high-profile Trump official is out as FDA chief resigns