Politics

Alonza Cruse, director of the Office of Human and Animal Drugs Inspectorate, and two other senior inspection officials are departing, along with Mark Raza, chief counsel from 2021 until January.

Dyes and colors which FDA says industries agree should no longer be used aren’t unsafe and are currently used only with the agency’s approval, industry stakeholders say. Center for Science in the Public Interest says the dyes are used “in tens of thousands of foods and beverages that are commonly consumed here in the United States.”

Lowell Zeta, a senior counselor at the FDA from 2020 to 2021, returns as deputy commissioner for strategic initiatives. The agency also names a new acting CIO and acting CVM director, but OGD's Ted Sherwood and OPDP's Catherine Gray retired.

HHS Secretary Kennedy commends food companies for cooperating, but also says, “We have them on the run now and we are going to win this battle. And four years from now, we're going to have most of these products off the market.”

Concern is unavoidable for most marketers of OTC drugs and dietary supplements in the US. As Canaccord Genuity analysts said in a 15 April research note, “uncertainty remains about how the tariff situation will play out.”

HHS Secretary Robet F. Kennedy Jr. and FDA Commissioner Marty Makary to announce planned changes as “a major step forward” as part of Kennedy’s “Make America Healthy Again” campaign President Trump has adopted for his administration.

Several biotech execs said they don’t expect much impact from the Trump administration’s threatened tariffs but are reviewing business practices to prepare.

The preliminary White House 2026 budget plan cuts agency funding, but not so sharply that user fees are excluded from collection.

Mark Meador most recently worked as a visiting fellow at conservative think tank Heritage Foundation’s Tech Policy Center and worked during Trump’s first term as a trial attorney in the Department of Justice’s Antitrust Division. The two Democrat-appointee seats remain open while the members Trump recently fired contest his controversial decision.

“As we progress through 2025, it is clear that we are operating in an increasingly dynamic environment,” says Abbott CEO Robert Ford. Trump’s tariff decisions, the CRN advises dietary supplement and other consumer health product firms, are likely to change.