The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) recently revealed that Brian King, director of the Center for Tobacco Products (CTP), has been placed on administrative leave, with dozens of other CTP staffers being issued letters of dismissal. King was offered reassignment to the Indian Health Service.
“It is with a heavy heart and profound disappointment that I share I have been placed on administrative leave,” King wrote in an email to employees, according to the Associated Press.
King joined the agency in 2022 and has more than two decades of experience working in the tobacco industry. Prior to joining the FDA, he worked in the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) Office on Smoking and Health, and also served as the executive director of CDC’s Morbidity & Morality Weekly Report Series.
King was known for his aggressive response to the illicit vapor market. Under his leadership in June 2024, the agency joined forces with the Department of Justice (DOJ) to launch a multi-agency task force designed specifically to curb unauthorized vape sales. In the months that followed, the task force, working alongside the U.S. Customs and Border Protection, seized millions of dollars worth of illegal vape products entering the U.S.
Also included in the layoffs were two entire offices responsible for setting policy and drafting new tobacco regulations. Additionally, senior FDA officials who oversee new drug reviews and vaccines were let go.
The layoffs come just days after Marty Makary was sworn in by the Senate as the FDA’s new commissioner, replacing the ousted Robert Califf. Makary reports to Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., and also now oversees the CTP.
More employees from the U.S. Health and Human Services Department (HHS) are expected to be relieved of their duties in the coming months, as Kennedy recently announced plans to shrink the department by nearly a quarter, resulting in 10,000 job layoffs and 10,000 early retirements or resignations, bringing HHS to 62,000 positions.
