FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Doctors for America
PO Box: 21161
2300 18th St NW Lbby
Washington, DC 20009-9996
March 31, 2025
Doctors for America Statement on Forced Resignation of Dr. Peter Marks
WASHINGTON, D.C. –The forced resignation of Dr. Peter Marks, Director of Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research at the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) should be seen as a warning sign for all clinicians and patients that the agency tasked with the monumental responsibility of ensuring available medical products are safe and effective is now facing serious threats to its independent, scientific-based decision-making. Doctors for America has not always agreed with Dr. Marks. Last year, we vocally opposed the FDA approval of the gene therapy, Elevidys for the treatment of Duchenne muscular dystrophy championed by Dr. Marks despite objections from several CBER scientific review teams. However ill-advised this decision was, we cannot ignore Dr. Marks’ tireless work to shepherd the development and approval of novel vaccines at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic while we struggled to care for patients dying of a now preventable disease. Thanks to Dr. Marks, millions of lives have been saved. Rather than resolving scientific debates around established vaccines as Dr. Marks proposed, the HHS Secretary is instead wastefully spending taxpayer dollars while also spreading misinformation that is actively harming patients. As children and vulnerable adults fall ill to an ever-growing measles outbreak that could have been prevented by well-studied, FDA-approved vaccines, he has instead touted therapies that have led to further hospitalizations. As the HHS Secretary authorizes mass layoffs at agencies that compromise public health and public safety in the name of “[combatting] fraud, waste, and abuse”, he has also hired a known vaccine skeptic with a past history of medical and research misconduct to investigate debunked claims linking vaccines to autism. Lines must be drawn by Congress and the incoming FDA Commissioner to ensure that our nation’s regulator can continue to do its important work of protecting patients without the interference of politics and ideology.
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About Doctors for America:
Doctors for America mobilizes doctors and medical students to be leaders in putting patients over politics to improve the health of our patients, communities, and nation. DFA is an organization of over 27,000 physician and medical student advocates in all 50 states, representing all areas of specialization. DFA teaches physicians and medical students advocacy skills and does advocacy at a state and federal level. Our impact areas focus on access to affordable care, community health and prevention, and health justice and equity. DFA focuses solely on what is best for our patients, not on the business side of medicine, and does not accept any funding from pharmaceutical or medical device companies, insurance companies or for-profit healthcare companies; which uniquely positions DFA as the organization that puts patients over politics and patients over profits. Find out more at doctorsforamerica.org and on Twitter drsforamerica or Bluesky drsforamerica.bsky.social.