The HHS announced that 5,200 staff from the FDA, NIH and CDC were at risk of losing their job on 14 February. Image credit: Shutterstock / Tada Images.

Figures from across the pharmaceutical and medtech industry have spoken out on social media following the culling of staff at US healthcare agencies, with many sharing their dismay and fear about the impact it could have on device and drug approvals.

Last weekend, over 5,200 probationary staff from agencies within the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), including staff from the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA), the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the National Institute of Health (NIH), were hit by job cuts due to Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) cutbacks.

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The CDC’s Epidemic Intelligence Service, also known as “disease detectives”, who track global outbreaks has not been impacted by the layoffs. Meanwhile, there was a large impact on the Center for Devices and Radiological Health (CDRH) which has allegedly suffered hundreds of job losses.

Scott Whitaker, CEO of US medical device body AdvaMed, said the industry association had sent a letter to the HHS outlining its concerns.

“We understand and support the administration’s overall goal to be more efficient with the taxpayer dollar. Our concern is that this round of cuts to FDA staff runs counter to that shared goal,” Whitaker said in a LinkedIn post.

Bo Tokarski, manager of analytical chemistry at Charles River Laboratories also spoke out on LinkedIn about how the drug discovery chain will be impacted by the job cuts.

“Financial cuts in the short term means detrimental impacts to drug discovery in the long term,” Tokarski said.

Shreya Mehta, CEO and founder of Zenflow, a medical equipment manufacturing company, and former FDA reviewer stated that patients will suffer the most.

“The lack of resources at FDA will inevitably delay approvals for drugs and devices. This is bad for the industry. And worst of all, the ones who will suffer most will be those who all of us hope to serve – the patients,” Mehta posted.

Under Trump’s administration, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. (RFK Jr) has been formally sworn in as the US Secretary of HHS.

Other orders have been made which are set to impact the healthcare sector including a ban on diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) workplace policies and introducing tariffs on China, Mexico and Canada, however, the tariffs on Mexico and Canada were paused for one month.