Pfizer Rehires Former FDA Drug Chief as Top Doctor

A Pfizer office in a file image. Johanna Geron/Reuters

Pfizer has named Patrizia Cavazzoni, the former head of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) drug review division, to serve as its top doctor.

Cavazzoni, who worked at Pfizer before joining the FDA, led the agency’s Center for Drug Evaluation and Research from 2020 until mid-January. On Monday, Pfizer announced she would rejoin the company as chief medical officer and executive vice president.

Prior to her FDA tenure, Cavazzoni held senior leadership roles at pharma giants like Pfizer, Eli Lilly, and Sanofi for nearly two decades. During her years at Pfizer, she led clinical sciences and development operations across multiple senior positions, the company said.

Cavazzoni’s return to Pfizer is the latest example of former FDA officials transitioning to roles within the pharmaceutical industry.

Critics often refer to such personnel transitions between federal health agencies and major pharmaceutical companies as a “revolving door,” expressing concerns about the agencies’ independence potentially being compromised by corporate interests.

Public Citizen, a progressive advocacy group, condemned her rehiring.

“Cavazonni’s move demonstrates that the revolving door between the FDA and the industries it regulates is alive and well and continues to undermine the FDA’s credibility as a public health agency,” the group said in a statement.

Other high-profile examples of FDA officials making such a transition include Scott Gottlieb, who served as FDA commissioner from 2017 to 2019. Gottlieb joined Pfizer’s board of directors shortly after leaving his post and remains a board member today.

Similarly, Robert Califf, who served as FDA commissioner in the Obama administration, later took a role advising Google Health and its spinoff Verily Life Sciences. In 2022, when Califf faced Senate confirmation hearings for the same job, he had to make an ethics pledge not to seek any position in the industry for four years after leaving the agency in order to secure votes from Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and other Democrats who took issue with his affiliation.

Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the newly confirmed Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS), has been an outspoken critic of how such transitions compromise the integrity of the nation’s public health system.

Kennedy, who briefly ran for president as an independent candidate last year before dropping his bid and endorsing Trump, had pledged to “rein in lobbyists and slam shut the revolving door” if elected.

During Kennedy’s Senate confirmation hearing on Jan. 29, Warren pressed him on whether his campaign pledge still stood.

“Will you commit that when you leave this job, you will not accept compensation from a drug company, a medical device company, a hospital system, or a health insurer for at least four years—including as a lobbyist or board member?” she asked.

“I’m happy to commit to that,” Kennedy replied.