5 lessons from Vinay Prasad’s turbulent tenure at the FDA

Food and Drug Administration official Vinay Prasad self-destructed last week. The FDA announced Friday evening that he would step down next month after a series of controversial decisions about vaccines and gene therapies. His unique ability to attract criticism — even when his bosses, including the president, wanted him to keep his head low — did him in. 

Prasad’s defenders will present his arc as that of a heroic figure falling because he stood by his principles, and argue that his departure is a win for Big Pharma because it means the industry will not be held to the high standards that he set. That is not so. He could be impulsive and careless, and did more harm to the FDA than good.

Credit where credit is due: Prasad is right that the FDA, in the case of rare disease treatments, needed to demand clearer evidence before issuing approvals. The paradox is that when it came to battles over clinical data, he pulled out a bazooka when he needed a scalpel.