As a former Associate Chief Counsel for FDA it was stunning to see the RIFs carried out today were arbitrary and in complete disregard for the wealth of scientific knowledge that will be forever lost. The way in which employees were dismissed was insulting as there badges inactived and then public servants corralled into a waiting area in front of all on the street. Significant expertise at the CDER and CBER and Office of New Drugs was lost forever with this thoughtless and reckless action. It does not create a more efficient government or health care agency watchdog and is a dangerous precedent.
The following comments from the recent Commissioner Dr. Robert Califf sum it up best:
“The FDA as we’ve known it is finished, with most of the leaders with institutional knowledge and a deep understanding of product development and safety no longer employed,”
and “I believe that history will see this a huge mistake. I will be glad if I’m proven wrong, but even then there is no good reason to treat people this way.