New Questions about FDA and Pharma

Apr 24, 2025 | Exposing Dysfunction, Media Mentions

By John A. Jenkins (Law Street)

The revolving door between the Food and Drug Administration and the pharmaceutical industry took another fast spin when Pfizer announced that Patrizia Cavazzoni would be returning to the company as its chief medical officer – weeks after her Inauguration-eve departure as the Biden Administration’s top regulator of prescription and over-the-counter medicines.

Although the shuffling of former federal employees into jobs as lobbyists, consultants, and strategists is not unusual, the reaction to Cavazzoni’s return to Pfizer marked a rare consensus among MAGA voices and left-leaning public interest organizations.  Both sides issued condemnations – resulting in new Freedom of Information Act requests, more questions about the FDA’s credibility, and adding yet another controversy for Pfizer amid reports of a federal investigation into whether the drug maker purposely delayed announcing the success of its Covid vaccine until after the 2020 election.   We’ll break all this down below, starting with the Cavazzoni announcement and the fallout, then moving to the resultant FOIA requests and the recent report of the federal investigation.

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