Nominated for the FDA, Marta Makara, to face the barbecue over cuts and changes in politics

Dr. Marta Makara may face the keen questions of senators whether on Thursday he will defend the administration of food and medicine against staff cut -out and industry pressure, although it is still expected to flow through the interrogation confirming to become the agency’s commissioner.

Dr. Makary built his reputation as contrary to the field of medicine, gaining a common notification, speaking about medical errors. Those loved ones noticed his readiness to agree with Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Secretary for the Health of the Nation, on various issues.

As a surgeon of pancreatic cancer and a health policy researcher at Johns Hopkins University, Dr. Makary was seen by some as a study. He wrote several books that criticize what he considers to be the disadvantages of Medical Orthodoxy, which result in recommendations supported by diminutive evidence.

However, he also drew the attention of Trump’s team as a personality of Fox News with more controversial views, as well as its relatively Early forecasts This Covid would disappear as a problem, and widespread immunity would take care of it long before that.

Dr. Reshma Strachandran, an assistant professor at Yale School of Medicine, said that he is not clear, which is “the real Marta Makara.”

She said that this is an vital question, taking into account some of Mr. Kennedy’s statements. The Secretary of Health suggested that FDA should raise restrictions on risky products, such as raw milk, which can be full of bacteria, and adopted hydroxychlorochine, a medicine briefly used as covid therapy, before its risk was considered to exceed all benefits.

“I hope I hope desperately,” she said, “that the highest general priority is to maintain the honesty and independence of the agency.”

Mr. Kennedy has already begun to signal changes in the policy of vaccine, Dr. Makara would also supervise the FDA in FDA, Kennedy expressed interest in studying the safety of vaccines, which have been on the market for decades and which protect millions of American children and adults from weakening diseases.

The agency has an extensive regulatory body over products, including prescription and over -the -counter medicines, medical devices, tobacco and about 80 percent of food supply.

The FDA has about 18,000 employees and a budget of around $ 7.2 billion. Among the many roles, the supervisory agency regulates artificial intelligence software used to scan medical images, an area in which the agency was rejected as too permission in its approval.

If this is confirmed, Dr. Makary first encountered tensions among employees who were delighted with aggressive means of reducing costs by Trump’s administration in recent weeks.

The staff survived the initial round of about 700 dismissals, decimating some product review teams that ensure the safety of medical devices, such as surgical robots and insulin supplies to people with diabetes. After this warning, several repetitions of work appeared.

On Tuesday, Panic passed through some of the agency’s quarters, when Trump’s administration raised about two million square feet of a place at the Maryland office in Maryland, before he withdrew. The fears also spread when the lease of a key drug safety laboratory in St. Louis was published as savings on the “wall of influence” advertised by the so -called government department Elon Musk. (The agency said on Wednesday that the laboratory would remain open).

Further employee cuts are expected.

“What will FDA resources look like in an environment in which it seems that the current approach is cut and burning, without any thoughtful deliberations?” – asked Dr. Aaron S. Kesselheim, a professor of Medicine Harvard, who studied FDA

In the documents submitted to the Government Ethics Office, Dr. Makary undertook to move away from millions of dollars in financial interests. These steps include the resignation of his role of a co -owner of global remedies, a company that scans health data to obtain signs of improper medical care with clients, including health plans and medical groups. He also said that he gave up positions in Sesame, a Teradrowia company that provides slimming drugs, and from Medregen, a pharmaceutical company and others.

There are many other issues that Dr. Makary would encounter, including a recent review, which Kennedy undertook to take the security of abortion tablets. Tobacco companies could emerge after biden administration failed to develop cigarette restrictions and after a gigantic contribution to the campaign of President Trump. The president’s decision to apply tariffs may affect the supply of necessary drugs from abroad.

It is also expected that he will consider Mr. Kennedy, which is the end of what he described as corruption in public health agencies, closing the rotational door between the FDA and the industries he regulates. Dr. Makary is expected to cooperate with the Make America Fit coalition, which was banking in administration to identify and remove unhealthy food additives.

However, it seems that these priorities are already colliding: the recent main head of the FDA Food Division, Kyle Diamantas, comes directly from the office in which he defended the producer of the formula of infants, the regulated product, before the claims that he hurt premature children.