Peter Marks, the former head of FDA’s vaccine division (CBER), and star of The HighWire’s own Secret Recordings: The Real Peter Marks has taken a job with pharma giant Eli Lilly. It just goes to show that no bad deed goes unrewarded in the world of pharma.
There is perhaps no FDA official during the Covid-19 pandemic who promoted the Covid vaccines as “safe and effective” with more zeal than “regulator” Peter Marks. He recklessly pushed to fast-track these vaccines and boosters through authorization and approval. He even produced commercials touting how wonderful the vaccines were.
When confronted with the vaccine injuries of people like Brianne Dressen and Maddie de Garay, he pretended to sympathize but refused to notify the medical community that these types of injuries were occurring, preventing the injured from receiving any meaningful treatment.
Marks joins many other FDA and CDC colleagues who played influential roles in the approval of pharma drugs and vaccines during their tenure, and then took jobs in the very industry they were supposed to regulate, such as:
- Julie Gerberding: Former Director of the CDC (2002–2009), joined Merck as president of its vaccines division in December 2009.
- Scott Gottlieb: Former FDA Commissioner (2017–2019), joined Pfizer’s board of directors in June 2019.
- Stephen Hahn: Former FDA Commissioner during the Covid-19 pandemic (2019–2021), joined Flagship Pioneering (the biotech venture firm that founded Moderna) as a chief medical officer in 2021.
- Patrizia Cavazzoni: Former director of the FDA’s CDER division (2021–2025) during which time five Pfizer drugs were approved, joined Pfizer as chief medical officer in March 2025.
Eli Lilly hired Marks just six months after he was ousted from his FDA position by HHS Secretary Kennedy. This revolving door—between pharma companies and the government agencies responsible for monitoring them—raises significant conflict of interest issues. How “tough” can FDA officials be if they know they are harming a potential future employer?
Rest assured, ICAN will continue to press for stronger ethics requirements that prevent FDA and CDC officials from entering into lucrative pharma contracts just months after leaving their government positions.
