Overview
- Health and Human Services and the FDA confirmed Prasad will leave at the end of April to return to UCSF, with Commissioner Marty Makary saying a successor will be named before he departs.
- Prasad’s tenure included an unusual initial refusal to review Moderna’s mRNA flu vaccine application before the FDA reversed course and accepted it contingent on an additional study.
- The agency engaged in a rare press call to defend its demand for a new study of UniQure’s Huntington’s gene therapy, with HHS later accusing the company of misleading the public about regulators’ requests.
- In November, Prasad circulated a memo claiming COVID vaccines had killed at least 10 children, a statement for which he provided no evidence and which 12 former FDA commissioners publicly denounced.
- He briefly left the post in July before being reinstated, and his planned departure comes during broader leadership turnover across federal health agencies.