The US Food and Drug Administration and biopharma industry will have to brace for a disruptive transition if Robert F. Kennedy Jr. plays a prominent role in a potential Trump Administration.
Key Takeaways
- Robert F. Kennedy Jr. could become a disruptive force if given a prominent health policy role in a second Trump Administration, as he has suggested.
- But Trump campaign officials have said Kennedy would not lead HHS, as some have suggested, but could be involved in a review of vaccine safety data.
- No matter the role Kennedy takes, he could be a wild card impacting the FDA’s ability to operate.
After suspending his own Presidential campaign and endorsing Trump in August, Kennedy has been named an honorary co-chair of Donald Trump’s transition team, with Trump frequently affirming that he will play an important role in his administration. Kennedy’s longstanding interest in and skepticism about corporate motives in health care dovetail with the populist side of Trump’s campaign. The partnership has been enshrined as a campaign to “Make America Healthy Again.”
Heading into the home stretch of the campaign, RFK appears to be focusing on the FDA, posting a broadside against the agency on X, formerly Twitter, on 25 October.
“FDA’s war on public health is about to end,” Kennedy said. “This includes its aggressive suppression of psychedelics, peptides, stem cells, raw milk, hyperbaric therapies, chelating compounds, ivermectin, hydroxychloroquine, vitamins, clean foods, sunshine, exercise, nutraceuticals and anything else that advances human health and can’t be patented by Pharma.”
“If you work for the FDA and are part of this corrupt system, I have two messages for you: 1. Preserve your records, and 2. Pack your bags,” Kennedy said.
Two days later, during a rally at Madison Square Garden, Trump underlined the threat. He praised Kennedy and called it an “honor” to have him on the campaign team. Then he said “I am going to let him go wild on health. I am going to let him go wild on the food. I am going to let him go wild on medicines.”
Kennedy also indicated that he expects to play a direct role in reforming health agencies, including the US National Institutes of Health and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, as well as the FDA.
That sets up a potential worst-case scenario for the FDA, as well as companies who like the current FDA climate, in the event of a Trump victory. However, it is far from a foregone conclusion that Kennedy would play a prominent role in a second Trump Administration.
Trump is notoriously fickle in his staffing choices and knows how to play to an audience with his public remarks. There is no certainty that his statements about a role for Kennedy on the campaign trail will in fact mean a position for him in January if Trump wins the election.
Kennedy offered an example of that uncertainty during the 2017 Presidential transition. Kennedy told reporters that Trump had asked him to chair a committee on “vaccine safety and integrity.” The Trump team then said that no formal offer had been made and the role did not materialize.
Kennedy subsequently claimed pharmaceutical industry lobbying, including a “$1 million dollar contribution to Trump” from Pfizer, led the new administration to move in a different direction. In the 2023 clip where Kennedy makes the allegations, he also described Operation Warp Speed as an “$88bn gift to Pfizer,” and promised to be “the worst nightmare for the status quo.”
In the days following the “go wild” comment, Trump transition officials suggested that the potential role for RFK in the new administration would be similar to the one he said he was offered in 2017 and not a formal position in or atop the Health and Human Services Department.
During an appearance on CNN, Trump Transition Co-Chair Howard Lutnick, CEO of Cantor Fitzgerald, said he had just had a long meeting with Kennedy and found his message about vaccine safety compelling. He also made clear that Kennedy would not be running HHS.
“He’s not going to be a Secretary, he doesn’t want that,” Lutnick said, and instead suggested that Kennedy would play a role reviewing “the data” on vaccine safety.
Unfortunately, based on Lutnick’s remarks, as well as Kennedy’s own oft-stated views, that review will include an emphasis on the extensively debunked claim that vaccines contribute to the increased rate of autism diagnoses in the US. Kennedy is particularly focused on removing the product liability protection afforded to recommended vaccines.
Kennedy may not be in a position to “go wild” on the FDA directly in a second Trump Administration, but he still will clearly be a wild card when it comes to public perceptions of the agency and its ability to operate.