NIH and FDA confirmation hearings

President Trump’s nominees to lead the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) had confirmation hearings before the Senate Health Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee last week.

NIH

• Who: Dr. Jay Bhattacharya is a Stanford University researcher and health economist.
• Focus on streamlining and chronic diseases: Bhattacharya promised to cut wasted research dollars and focus on funding studies to find the root causes of chronic diseases. He indicated that he wants scientific progress to move faster at the agency.
• Indirect costs: When asked by several senators about the plan to restrict indirect costs in NIH grants, Bhattacharya answered vaguely and suggested the lack of transparency around how universities use indirect costs contributed to people’s mistrust of academic research and science. He said that he thinks a lot of indirect funding “likely goes to things that are worthwhile,” but said audits could help improve oversight.
• Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE): Bhattacharya deflected Democratic questions about whether he would reverse the Trump administration’s slowdown in grantmaking and the firing of more than 1,000 staffers. Bhattacharya said he was not involved in the administration’s early moves and that he would revisit them, follow the law, and ensure NIH researchers get the money they need. Bhattacharya did not promise to reverse DOGE’s work but did commit to restarting grant review meetings.

FDA

• Who: Dr. Marty Makary is a Johns Hopkins University surgeon.
• Make America Health Again (MAHA) focus: Makary promised to be radically transparent, to follow the science wherever it leads, and to focus his efforts on ending childhood chronic disease. He offered few specifics on what policies he would implement to address the root causes of chronic disease.
• Vaping: He pledged to crack down on an influx of illegal vapes.
• Naloxone: Makary said FDA can look at ways to make more drugs available over the counter (OTC), citing naloxone as an example. He noted that this would promote price transparency and expressed support for speeding up approvals for generic and OTC drugs as a way to increase manufacturer competition and bring down costs.
• DOGE: Senators on both sides of the aisle pressed for his view on DOGE’s firings and rehirings of FDA employees. While he repeated that he was not involved with those decisions, he said he will personally assess FDA staffing levels.

What’s coming: The Senate HELP Committee will vote to advance the nominations to the full Senate later this week. Both nominees are expected to be confirmed easily.

• Dr. Dave Weldon, Trump’s nominee to run the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), is set to appear before the Senate HELP Committee on Thursday for a confirmation hearing.