For the second time, Vinay Prasad is set to leave the Food and Drug Administration.
In a post on social media Friday, FDA Commissioner Marty Makary announced that Prasad will exit in April, adding that he got “a tremendous amount accomplished” during his year at the agency.
Prasad’s tenure was generally marked by controversy, but he is departing amid a cluster of self-destructive decisions. Those include a shocking rejection of an mRNA vaccine (which was over the objections of agency scientists and quickly reversed); a demand for an additional clinical trial on a gene therapy for Huntington’s disease, which was widely seen as moving the goalpost for the therapy; his startling choice to publicly attack the maker of that gene therapy, UniQure; and alleged abuse of FDA staff, who say he created a toxic work environment.
