Rise and shine, everyone, another busy day is on the way. And it is getting off to a good start here on the Pharmalot campus, where we have cool breezes and much less humidity than in recent days. Who could ask for anything more? Actually, we could — it is time to reheat the coffee kettle for another cup of stimulation. Our choice today is … strawberry creme, a pantry favorite. Please feel free to join us. Remember, no prescription is required. And now, here are your tidbits. Hope you have a productive and meaningful day, and, as always, please do keep in touch. We have adjusted our settings to accept postcards and telegrams. …
White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles was behind President Trump’s highly unusual decision last week to rehire Food and Drug Administration official Vinay Prasad, who he had just fired at the urging of MAGA influencer Laura Loomer, Politico reports. Her intervention in rehiring Prasad followed pleas from both Prasad’s boss, FDA Commissioner Marty Makary, and U.S. Health and Human Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. They insisted Prasad is part of Kennedy’s broader “make America healthy again” movement and integral to the Trump coalition. The reversal demonstrated the limits of Loomer’s influence and marked a fragile win for Kennedy in pursuing his plans to overhaul U.S. regulation of vaccines and drugs — and confirmation that the White House still sees Kennedy as a useful political ally as the midterm elections approach. Trump had forced Prasad out of his FDA job less than two weeks earlier after Sarepta Therapeutics, joined by GOP allies and Loomer, sought his ouster. In July, Prasad had pushed the FDA to ask Sarepta to stop selling its Duchenne muscular dystrophy drug due to safety concerns.
The announcement by the Trump administration of the results of a probe into pharmaceutical imports and new sector-specific U.S. tariffs likely remains weeks away, later than initially promised as President Trump focuses on other matters, Reuters reports. U.S. Department of Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick had said in April when launching the review of whether reliance on foreign drug production threatens U.S. national security that he anticipated that it would conclude between mid-May and mid-June. Global pharmaceutical companies are bracing for the outcome of the investigation, which will usher in sector-specific tariffs that Trump has said could start small and eventually rise to 250%. Trump said as recently as last week that his plan relies on phased-in tariffs, giving drugmakers time to increase manufacturing in the U.S. as he pushes to alter what he says are global trade distortions in many industries. A White House spokesperson, asked about reports indicating the results of the probe could be several weeks away, cautioned that such reports were pure speculation unless confirmed by the White House, and declined to give further details about the timing of the pharma probe.
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