President Trump announced on November 6, 2025, that his administration had reached agreements with pharmaceutical manufacturers Eli Lilly and Novo Nordisk to dramatically reduce prices for popular weight loss and diabetes medications, including Ozempic, Wegovy, Mounjaro, Zepbound, and Orforglipron. …
Donald TrumpEli LillyNovo NordiskDepartment of Health and Human Serviceshealthcarepharmaceutical-industrydrug-pricingmedicarepolitical-messaging
Dr. Patrizia Cavazzoni, former head of the FDA’s Center for Drug Evaluation and Research (CDER), immediately transitioned to Pfizer as chief medical officer, reigniting intense debate about the pharmaceutical industry’s regulatory influence and the problematic ‘revolving …
Patrizia CavazzoniFDAPfizerRobert F. Kennedy Jr.Center for Drug Evaluation and Research+2 moreregulatory-capturepharmaceutical-industryfdarevolving-doorinstitutional-corruption+2 more
FDA Commissioner Robert Califf faces ongoing criticism for his extensive pharmaceutical industry ties. Having received over $8 million from drug companies and worked as a consultant for major pharmaceutical firms, Califf pledged to extend post-employment restrictions from 2 to 4 years to mitigate …
Robert CaliffFDAVerily Life SciencesJoe ManchinBernie Sandersregulatory-capturepharmaceutical-industryfdacorporate-influencegovernment-ethics
Internal agency data reveals a dramatic decline in FDA enforcement actions against pharmaceutical companies. Annual warning letters dropped from over 130 in the late 1990s to just three in 2023, indicating a significant reduction in regulatory oversight. Investigations by ProPublica and HHS show …
Regulatory Enforcement DivisionIndustry Trade GroupsCongressional OversightFDA LeadershipPharmaceutical Manufacturers Associationenforcement-declineregulatory-captureindustry-influenceoversight-failurepharmaceutical-industry+1 more
Dr. Robert Califf confirmed as FDA Commissioner by a narrow Senate vote of 50-46, highlighting ongoing concerns about pharmaceutical industry regulatory capture. Historical evidence suggests a systemic ‘revolving door’ between FDA and pharmaceutical companies, with approximately 27% of …
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Former FDA Commissioner Stephen Hahn, who led the agency during the Emergency Use Authorization of Moderna’s COVID-19 vaccines, took an executive-level position as Chief Medical Officer with Flagship Pioneering, the venture capital firm that launched Moderna. This transition occurred six …
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Dr. Stephen Hahn, former FDA Commissioner who led the agency during COVID-19 vaccine emergency use authorizations, joined Flagship Pioneering as Chief Medical Officer on June 16, 2021. The move came six months after the FDA granted emergency use authorization to Moderna’s COVID-19 vaccine. …
Stephen HahnFlagship PioneeringModernaFDAregulatory-capturepharmaceutical-industryconflict-of-interestcovid-pandemicfda-oversight
Scott Gottlieb, former FDA Commissioner, joined Pfizer’s board of directors on June 27, 2019, just 85 days after leaving the FDA. The move sparked significant criticism about the ‘revolving door’ between government regulatory agencies and pharmaceutical companies. Gottlieb will …
Scott GottliebElizabeth WarrenPfizer Board of DirectorsFood and Drug Administrationregulatory-capturepharmaceutical-industryrevolving-doorfdaconflict-of-interest
Joan Buenconsejo, who led FDA analysis of medical statistics for drug reviews including AstraZeneca products in 2012-2013, joined AstraZeneca as a director and biometrics team leader in June 2014. This transition exemplifies the systemic ‘revolving door’ problem in pharmaceutical …
Joan BuenconsejoFDAAstraZenecaCenter for Drug Evaluation and Researchregulatory-capturepharmaceutical-industryfdarevolving-doorconflict-of-interest
Jeffrey Siegel, an FDA staff member specializing in arthritis drug reviews, oversaw the 2010 approval of Genentech tocilizumab (Actemra) for arthritis treatment. Within months of the approval, Siegel left the FDA to join Genentech and its parent company Roche as director of the division that …
On April 5, 2010, the FDA approved Purdue Pharma’s reformulated OxyContin designed to make it more difficult to crush, snort, or inject—14 years after the original drug’s launch and three years after the company’s guilty plea to criminal misbranding. Purdue ceased shipping the old …
The Obama White House secretly negotiated an $80 billion deal with pharmaceutical industry lobbyists, abandoning the president’s campaign promise to allow Medicare to negotiate drug prices. White House officials Jim Messina and Rahm Emanuel met with PhRMA CEO Billy Tauzin, agreeing to maintain …
Analysis of pharmaceutical industry campaign contributions from 1999-2018 revealed that the top 40 congressional recipients jointly received $45 million, with 39 serving on committees with health-related legislative jurisdiction—24 in senior positions. Of the top 20 House recipients, 17 served on …
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The House of Representatives passed the Medicare Prescription Drug, Improvement, and Modernization Act at 5:53 AM after an unprecedented 3-hour vote that House leaders held open for nearly three hours past the normal 15-minute voting period to secure enough votes. The legislation created Medicare …
Billy TauzinHouse Energy and Commerce CommitteePhRMAMedicareregulatory-capturehealthcarepharmaceutical-industrycongressional-corruptionlobbying
Purdue Pharma’s lucrative bonus system paid sales representatives an average of $71,500 in annual bonuses—more than their $55,000 base salary—with bonuses ranging from $15,000 to nearly $240,000. In 2001 alone, Purdue paid $40 million in sales incentive bonuses, systematically incentivizing …
Purdue Pharma launched the most aggressive marketing campaign ever undertaken for a narcotic drug, introducing OxyContin with false claims about addiction risk. At the 1996 launch party, Dr. Richard Sackler predicted the debut would “be followed by a blizzard of prescriptions that will bury …
In a landmark case of regulatory capture, Dr. Curtis Wright IV, leading the FDA’s Division of Anesthetic, Critical Care, and Addiction Drug Products, approved OxyContin with controversial language that misrepresented the drug’s addictive potential. Wright held private meetings with …
Curtis Wright IVPurdue PharmaFood and Drug AdministrationDivision of Anesthetic, Critical Care, and Addiction Drug ProductsDepartment of Justiceregulatory-capturepharmaceutical-industryopioid-crisisfda-corruptionpublic-health
The Prescription Drug User Fee Act (PDUFA) of 1992 fundamentally restructured FDA drug approval financing by creating a direct financial relationship between pharmaceutical companies and regulators. The Act mandated drug companies pay fees to fund FDA drug reviews, which eventually comprised up to …
Food and Drug AdministrationPharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA)U.S. CongressPharmaceutical Companiesregulatory-capturepharmaceutical-industryfdagovernment-fundinginstitutional-transformation