FCG Pressroom

Departures appear to run counter to health secretary RFK Jr.’s goal of eliminating conflicts of interest

By Allison DeAngelis, Jason Mast, and Elaine Chen, April 25, 2025

Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has railed against what he sees as a “revolving door” between workers at drug companies and the Food and Drug Administration. But his department’s actions now seem to be causing that door to spin ever faster.

Scores of FDA employees are searching for an exit from an agency in turmoil, particularly staff members tasked with reviewing drug applications, according to interviews with former employees and industry recruiters. Many of those joining the exodus were protected from the layoffs that hit the agency earlier this month, but their work environment has become morose, and cuts to other departments are making it more difficult to do their jobs.

As many as 600 drug reviewers have recused themselves from approval processes because they’re interviewing with pharma companies, former FDA commissioner Scott Gottlieb estimated during an appearance on CNBC’s “Squawk Box” earlier this week. These staff members oversee applications for new medicines and are partially funded through user fees that the FDA collects from drug companies.

“There’s an expectation that there’s going to be a lot of voluntary departures from the agency over the summer,” Gottlieb said.

One reviewer, speaking on condition of anonymity, began applying for jobs in early March, when it became clear changes were on the horizon, including a mandate to return to working in the office. (The agency has since walked back that requirement for some employees, but the reviewer is unsure if that applies to them). So far, this reviewer has sent resumes to more than 20 open jobs.

Another reviewer told STAT that, while they are trying to stay at the FDA, a fellow reviewer had to ask for a recusal because of an industry job search and several others have already left the agency.

Recruiters like Dan Gold, president at Fairway Consulting Group, said they have seen a marked uptick in calls or applications from people looking to leave the FDA. Gold estimated that he’s seen a 20% increase in FDA reviewers interested in jobs at biotech companies he works with. It’s still a small number, he said, but it’s notable because for years the FDA has been seen as a place where people could work for much of their career, through several presidential administrations.

“Previously, FDA reviewers, that was a for-life kind of job, and maybe once they retired and got their pension, they would consult with industry or they would take on various roles in industry, but now you do see people entertaining industry jobs before being eligible for retirement,” Gold said.

Kennedy has vowed to “slam shut” the revolving door between government agencies and the companies they regulate, though he hasn’t specified how, just yet. Earlier this month, FDA Commissioner Marty Makary told Megyn Kelly, the former Fox News host, that his team has been weighing options to stop top regulators from leaving to work at pharma companies, but noted that “it’s a free country.”

“What we can do is create a culture here where people want to stay,” he said.

The regulators trying to leave may be confronted with a disappointing reality: The biotech job market is far from the green pastures they may have envisioned.

Layoffs have become commonplace over the last two years as drug companies attempt to stretch their financing, or pharma companies shift their R&D priorities. In some cases, drug companies that actually had hiring plans in place heading into 2025 have pressed the pause button, recruiters said, opting to hold off until the stock market steadies and the scope of President Trump’s planned tariffs on the pharma industry become clear. Even in cases in which jobs are available, executives are wary of the negative PR or poor culture fit that can come with hiring former regulators.

“I have recruiters calling me up like you wouldn’t believe,” pitching job candidates who are looking to get out of the FDA, said David Lilienfeld. He has spent more than 20 years working in clinical development and pharmacovigilance — or, the detection and assessment of adverse events in clinical trials — for various biotech and pharma companies, building himself a wide professional network in the process. But he doesn’t know where to send these job seekers. Seemingly, no one is hiring.

The reviewer who began applying for jobs in March said that, so far, they’ve been rejected from every job they’ve pursued. “I think it might be, like, the most horrible possible time to look for a job,” they said.

Where there are jobs, multiple recruiters said that companies are turning down applicants from the FDA because they believe people used to working in the hierarchical machinations of the federal government aren’t well-suited to working in small, fast-paced drug startups.

Eric Celidonio, founder of Sci.bio Recruiting, said that many biotechs don’t view FDA staffers, particularly ones who aren’t at the senior level, as the most desirable candidates. “Their job at the FDA has been to think along the lines of policy, which is very black and white, and the creative thinkers are generally on the industry side that show data and try to paint the picture.”

There’s also the risk that hiring regulatory staff could bring negative attention to drug companies during a time when the relationship between Washington and scientific institutions are particularly tenuous.

Several cases in which high-ranking FDA officials have left the agency to join drug firms have drawn criticism. In February, Pfizer caused a stir when it announced that it had hired Patrizia Cavazzoni, who had stepped down as the head of the FDA’s Center for Drug Evaluation and Research a month earlier. Pfizer had previously recruited Gottlieb, the exFDA commissioner, to its board in 2019, which Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), stated “smack[ed] of corruption.” Former commissioners Stephen Hahn and Robert Califf have also caught flak for joining drug firms after working for the government.

“The optics aren’t great, but you have to make a living,” said Pearl Freier, who runs the recruiting and executive search firm Cambridge BioPartners. “You’re either going to work for industry or start your own consulting firm.”

Biotech Startups and Venture Capital Reporter, Allison DeAngelis, can be reached at allison.deangelis@statnews.com.

General Assignment Reporter, Jason Mast, can be reached at jason.mast@statnews.com.

National Biotech Reporter, Elaine Chen, can be reached at elaine.chen@statnews.com.