Dr. Marty McCurry may face incisive questions from the Senators about whether to defend the Food and Drug Administration from staff cuts and industry pressures on Thursday, but he is still expected to become a voyage committee member through a confirmation hearing.
Dr. McCurry has built a reputation as a paradox in the medical field and has earned extensive notifications by making comments about medical errors. People nearby have spoken about their willingness to agree with the nation's health secretary, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., on various issues.
As a pancreatic cancer surgeon and health policy researcher at Johns Hopkins University, Dr. McCurry has been considered a contrasting study. He has written several books that criticize the flaws in medical orthodoxy that bring recommendations backed by slight evidence.
However, he also attracted attention from the Trump team as the character of Fox News, with a more controversial view, like his relatively early prediction that Covid would disappear as a concern and that widespread immunity would take hold long before that.
Dr. Reshma Ramachandran, assistant professor at Yale School of Medicine, said it is not clear which is the “true Marty McCurry.”
She said that was an important question given some of Kennedy's declarations. The Health Secretary suggests that the FDA should lift the constraints of dangerous products like raw milk that could tolerate bacteria, and that it had embraced hydroxychloroquine, a drug that is temporarily used as a covid therapy before risk exceeds its profits.
“I want it, I want it, I want it desperately,” she said.
Kennedy is already beginning to signal changes in vaccine policies. The area that Dr. McCurry oversees with the FDA has expressed interest in examining the safety of vaccines that have been on the market for decades and protect millions of American children and adults from the obstacles of decline.
The agency has a huge regulatory authority for products such as prescription and over-the-counter medications, medical devices, tobacco and around 80% of its food supply.
The FDA has around 18,000 staff and a budget of around $7.2 billion. Among many surveillance roles, agents regulate the artificial intelligence software used to scan medical images. This is an area in which the institution has rejected its approval as being too generous.
If confirmed, Dr. McCurry will first encounter tension among staff members who have been whipped by the Trump administration's aggressive cost-cutting measures in recent weeks.
Staff have endured the first round of about 700 layoffs and decimate a product review team that ensures the safety of medical devices such as surgical robots and systems that supply insulin to people with diabetes. These firings were followed by several rehabilitation of duties.
On Tuesday, Panic swept a quarter of the agency when the Trump administration increased the chances of selling the agency's Maryland office space before retreating for about 2 million square feet of sales. Concerns also spread when the lease to a major St. Louis drug safety lab was featured as a savings on the “receipt wall” promoted by Elon Musk's so-called government efficiency office. (The agency said Wednesday that the lab will remain open.)
Further staff reductions are expected.
“How does FDA resources look in an environment where current approaches appear to be novel and burning without thoughtful deliberation?” asked Dr. Aaron S. Kesselheim, a Harvard Medicine professor who studied the FDA.
In a document submitted to the Government Ethics Office, Dr. McCurry pledged to move away from millions of dollars for financial gain. These steps include resigning from his role as co-owner of Global Hollas Health Mesults. It is a company that scans health data for inappropriate healthcare signs with clients, including health plans and physician groups. He also said he resigned from his position at Sesami, a telehealth company that provides weight loss medicines, and resigned from Medregen, a pharmaceutical company and others.
There are many other issues that Dr. McCurry faces. These include a new review that Kennedy has pledged to assume the safety of abortion medications. Tobacco companies could be encouraged after the Biden administration's failure to advance tobacco restrictions and contributed so much to President Trump's campaign. The president's decision to impose tariffs could affect the supply of essential medicines from overseas.
He is also expected to bring an end to what he described as corruption in public health agencies and advance Kennedy's goal of closing the revolving door between the FDA and the industries it regulates. Dr. McCurry is expected to work with the American Healthy Coalition, which banks the administration to identify and remove unhealthy food additives.
But these priorities already appear to be in conflict. Kyle Diamantas, the new representative of the FDA Food Division, comes directly from a law firm that defended the manufacturer of infant formulas, a regulated product, against allegations that he had hurt premature babies.
