The sudden resignation of Peter Marks, M.D., Ph.D., from the FDA branch that regulates biological products for humans

Marks offered his resignation while citing Kennedy’s “misinformation and lies” and an “unprecedented assault on scientific truth” impacting public health.

Vaccine makers were hit particularly hard yesterday, as Marks’ resignation letter alluded to disagreements with HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. on vaccines. Moderna’s stock dropped 9%, while Vaxcyte’s plummeted 46% (though shares of Vaxcyte were also affected by disappointing results of a vaccine candidate.)

As the FDA wavers from cuts, changes and departures under the second Trump administration, another vital figure of the agency is heading for the exit. | In resigning as director of the FDA’s Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research,

Dr. Peter Marks, the top vaccine official at the Food and Drug Administration, wrote in a letter that he was resigning from his position.

Marks’ resignation leaves the field without a regulator many view as “integral” to its progress over the last decade.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration said on Tuesday it had named Scott Steele as acting director of its Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research (CBER), following the exit of top vaccine scientist Peter Marks.

Kennedy Jr., a longtime and visceral critic of pharmaceutical and biotech companies, was nominated by President Trump to be the nation’s health secretary, the head of biotech’s largest trade group issued a statement saying that he had “every confidence” that the industry would “continue to thrive and deliver” on its goals,