Person
Physician and deputy director of the White House Domestic Policy Council, nominated by President Trump to lead the FDA; formerly chief policy officer at the America First Policy Institute.
Heidi Overton, Trump's FDA nominee, helped craft the justification for cutting CDC-recommended childhood vaccines from 17 to 11, Semafor reported. The Senate health committee left without voting on her nomination, so confirmation falls to the lame-duck session.
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Three former FDA chiefs said DOGE's 3,500 job cuts and a larger exodus under Marty Makary cost the agency institutional knowledge. Ned Sharpless said companies he works with now meet more junior reviewers.
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The United States is in its worst measles year since 1991. The figure on the federal counter is one death, marked subject to change, while Pennsylvania officials describe four deaths among unvaccinated people.
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Two former commissioners, writing before Heidi Overton's Senate hearing on Thursday, argue that FDA review capacity now decides where new medicines reach patients first. Their evidence is a count of trial starts.
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Heidi Overton would arrive at the FDA from the White House Domestic Policy Council, with a political record rather than a regulatory one. Plan submissions for priorities set from outside the building.
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