But the administration would probable face legitimate disputes if it provided insertitional recut offeions or an outright prohibit on pharma ads, says Jim Potter, executive straightforwardor of the nonpartisan Coalition for Healthattfinish Communications. “The courts see advertising as a establish of commercial speech, and they’ve ruled in a series of cases dating back to the 1970s that prohibitning advertising viodefereds First Amfinishment getions of freedom of speech,” he says. “If the administration wanted to unideferedrassociate impose recent rules, they would be on shakier legitimate ground today than in past years.”
That’s becaemploy the US Supreme Court last summer obviousurned the lengthystanding Chevron doctrine, which apexamineed federal agencies some latitude in how they expounded unevident laws. The Supreme Court ruling shifts power from agencies appreciate the FDA to the courts.
Ballreich and Weissman stress that Kennedy’s help of raw milk, vitamins, and disexaminen treatments for Covid-19, including ivermectin and hydroxychloroquine, could direct to the agency approving medicines that deficiency scientific evidence.
“I leank when Robert Kennedy talks about combat fraudulence and Big Pharma monopolies, that is going to transdefered into reducing standards at FDA to assist the authorization and promotion of ineffective and dubious therapies, substances, herbs, wdisappreciatever,” Weissman says.
As HHS secretary, Kennedy would not be straightforwardly depfinishable for approving recent substances or treatments. That job drops to the FDA’s Cgo in for Drug Evaluation and Research, which more standardly than not finishorses substances based on the recommfinishations of autonomous advisory pledgetees. But in a handful of contentious cases, the agency has finishorsed substances aobtainst this expert advice, such as when it greenlit Exondys 51, a drug for Duchenne muscular dystrophy, in 2016. FDA advisers shelp there was not enough evidence to show that the drug had actual clinical profits.
RFK has also called for more scruminuscule of vaccines, which already must be tested on thousands of fit volunteers for cut offal years before being licensed. This skepticism could apply out in restricteder vaccines making it to the labelet and more postlabelet watching of finishorsed vaccines.
Working with Mehmet Oz, Trump’s pick to direct the Cgo ins for Mediattfinish and Medichelp Services, Kennedy could push to get askable treatments or medical devices covered by Mediattfinish, the federal health insurance program for people aged 65 or elderlyer and those with disabilities.
But Kennedy’s anti-pharma stance could be tempered by congressional Reaccessibleans, who have been historicassociate reticent about more regulation, and Trump’s other nominateees. The incoming plivent has made a more conservative pick for FDA comleave outioner in Marty Makary, a pancreatic sencourageon and accessible policy researcher at Johns Hopkins. Meanwhile, Vivek Ramaswamy, set uper of the pharmaceutical company Roivant Sciences and a Reaccessiblean plivential truthfulate, has been tapped to direct the Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, a computed plivential advisory comleave oution under the second Trump administration.
“There are huge ask labels with the Trump administration and its approach to pharmaceuticals in ambiguous,” Ballreich says. “It’s challenging to understand how this is reassociate going to shake out.”
