FDA vaccines head, chief medical officer Vinay Prasad departs agency

Vinay Prasad, who headed the U.S. FDA division in charge of vaccines and was also chief medical and scientific officer, has abruptly left the agency.

He joined the FDA in May as director of the Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research. He was given the additional role of chief medical and scientific officer in June.

Prasad’s departure appears to have centered around backlash related to the FDA’s handling of several deaths potentially linked to Sarepta Therapeutics’ (NASDAQ:SRPT) Duchenne muscular dystrophy treatment Elevidys, according to STAT News, which was first to report on the end of Prasad’s tenure. The agency paused all shipments of the gene therapy and then placed a clinical hold on Elevidys clinical trials.

Duchenne patient advocacy groups as well as some conservative news outlets heavily criticized the decision, Bloomberg noted. On July 28, the FDA relented somewhat, and is now recommending that Elevidys be allowed for use in ambulatory patients.

“Dr. Prasad did not want to be a distraction to the great work of the FDA in the Trump administration and has decided to return to California and spend more time with his family,” HHS spokesman Andrew Nixon said in a statement.

Prasad also drew the ire of public health experts when he overruled FDA staff by limiting the use of COVID-19 vaccines from Moderna (NASDAQ:MRNA) and Novavax (NASDAQ:NVAX).

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