STAT+: The FDA’s rebuilding effort is running into a new challenge — SkimNews
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- DOGE under Elon Musk cut 3,500 FDA workers in April 2025, triggering a broader staff exodus at the agency.
- FDA is now looking to add more than 2,000 workers, with leaders publicly declaring at industry events that the agency is "very actively hiring."
- Karim Mikhail, director of FDA's Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research, announced the hiring push Monday at a conference for drug manufacturers.
- FDA promotes new hires on social media with group photos and "Welcome to FDA!" messages, projecting momentum in its recovery effort.
- The hiring push is mired in bureaucratic delays stemming from the very DOGE workforce reductions the agency is trying to reverse, according to STAT reporting.
Why it matters: FDA leaders are publicly championing a 2,000-person hiring spree to recover from DOGE's 3,500-worker cut in April 2025, but those same cuts appear to have created bureaucratic bottlenecks that now slow the rebuild itself — leaving drug manufacturers who depend on the agency's biologics reviewers and other staff in continued limbo over staffing capacity.
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