Ousted FDA Vaccine Regulator Lands at Eli Lilly: Close the Revolving Door Now
WASHINGTON, D.C. – After being forced out of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) by Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., Dr. Peter Marks has joined Eli Lilly to oversee molecule discovery and infectious diseases. Marks, formerly the agency’s top vaccine regulator and director of the Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research, is the second high-ranking agency official to recently leave through the revolving door between the FDA and the industries it regulates. In February 2025, Dr. Patrizia Cavazzoni, the former director of the FDA’s Center for Drug Evaluation and Research, rejoined Pfizer as chief medical officer. In turn, Cavazzoni was replaced by a physician-scientist who had founded and been the chief executive officer of multiple biopharmaceutical companies. Dr. Robert Steinbrook, Health Research Group director for Public Citizen, issued the following statement:
“Once again, the revolving door between the FDA and the industries it regulates has undermined its integrity as a public health agency and the credibility of former officials who exited to lucrative industry jobs. At a time when vaccine science is under attack as never before and Kennedy’s actions are endangering the nation’s health every day, Marks joining Ely Lily is tone deaf. When will the FDA finally learn that high-ranking officials must not be hired from industry and must be prohibited from leaving for industry jobs?”