Washington, D.C. – The Trump Administration’s undermining of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is putting public health at risk and threatening advancements in the life sciences industry, prompting Rep. Kevin Mullin (CA-15) to call for more stability at the agency.
This week, Rep. Mullin sounded the alarm during an Energy and Commerce subcommittee meeting, which coincided with his sending a letter to the FDA that calls out the Administration’s harmful policies effecting its work. The FDA’s crisis stems from mass layoffs, that led to a nearly 20% reduction in staff last year and tumultuous leadership turnover, which have weakened the agency’s ability to protect consumers and regulate drugs entering the U.S. market.
Representing a congressional district that boasts a robust life sciences economy, Rep. Mullin emphasized how weakening the FDA hurts medical advancements and the patients who rely on these innovative developments.
“Given the vital role life sciences companies play in protecting public health and furthering our domestic economic development, I implore you to preserve the FDA’s reputation for being the world’s gold standard of leadership in the regulatory space,” Rep. Mullin wrote in his letter to the FDA. “Biotechnology companies require a consistent and reliable regulator to ensure that the safest and most effective drugs are getting to patients. Political whims cannot be allowed to continue to unnecessarily hinder this important domestic industry. Patients’ lives depend on timely scientific progress.”
Delays at the FDA significantly impact the economy and slow down therapies getting to patients. In 2025, the life sciences industry in the San Francisco Bay Area created $121.6 billion in economic output and employed over 135,000 workers. San Mateo County alone has more than 700 biotech companies, many of which are small business that are particularly vulnerable to long regulatory delays and changes in the market. These companies develop life-changing treatments for a variety of health conditions and diseases, from discovering new ways to address neurological disorders to reducing the spread of HIV. But these therapies depend on a predictable regulatory review process to get in the hands of patients.
Disastrous leadership turnovers and pressure for FDA staff to prioritize partisan politics over scientific judgement, in addition to layoffs under the direction of Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., have also added unnecessary uncertainty to the drug review process. Shockingly, one division at FDA alone has had five different directors since January 2025. In his letter to the FDA’s Acting Commissioner Kyle Diamantas, Rep. Mullin urges the FDA to reestablish certainty in its processes so that it can return to supporting American leadership in the biotechnology industry.
Read the full letter here.
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