WASHINGTON (AP) — Barely a week after mass firings at the Food and Drug Administration, some probationary staffers received unexpected news over the weekend: The government wants them back.
Beginning Friday night, FDA employees overseeing medical devices, food ingredients and other key areas received calls and emails notifying them that their recent terminations had been “rescinded effective immediately,” according to messages viewed by The Associated Press.
Four FDA staffers impacted by the decisions spoke with the AP on condition of anonymity because they planned to continue working for the agency and weren’t authorized to discuss its internal procedures.
The reversal is the latest example of President Donald Trump and billionaire Elon Musk’s chaotic approach to cost-cutting, which has resulted in several agencies firing, and then scrambling to rehire, employees responsible for nuclear weapons, national parks and other government services.
The FDA reinstatements followed pushback by lobbyists for the medical device industry, which pays the agency hundreds of millions of dollars annually to hire extra scientists to review products. The industry’s leading trade group said Monday “a sizable number” of device reviewers appear to be returning to FDA.
“This would be welcome news, and I appreciate the administration for acting quickly,” AdvaMed CEO Scott Whitaker said in an emailed statement. “We all share the same goal — an efficient, effective FDA review process that helps advance the medical technologies American patients depend on.”
FDA staffers said entire teams of five or more medical device reviewers had been reinstated.
In the agency’s food program, at least 10 staffers responsible for reviewing the safety of new ingredients were offered their jobs back, according to a food staffer who spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity to discuss internal agency matters.
The FDA’s deputy commissioner for foods, Jim Jones, resigned last week, citing “the indiscriminate firing” of nearly 90 staffers in his division, according to a copy of his resignation letter obtained by the AP. The food program recently underwent a major restructuring to better oversee essential products like infant formula and baby food.
The FDA hasn’t released official numbers on the terminations, but former FDA officials have pegged the number at roughly 700, with more than 220 coming from the medical device center. That would represent roughly 10% of the program’s total staffing.
The FDA did not respond to requests Monday about how many employees were being reinstated.
Like other agencies, the FDA terminations went to employees in their probationary period, typically the first two years of federal employment. But that approach resulted in firings across key areas where the agency has been working to beef up staffing, including rapidly evolving fields like artificial intelligence and digital health. The cuts also included agency leaders who were recently hired for senior roles.
“The disarray caused by the wholesale termination of a wide swath of device center staff was counterproductive and appears to have caused a variety of unintended and negative results,” said Steve Silverman, a former FDA device official who now runs a consulting firm. “It’s encouraging to see a shift in the opposite direction that recognizes the critical expertise of these staffers.”
Many reviewers have advanced degrees in specialized medical and technological fields. They can typically earn more in the private sector than in government.
Last week, the lobbying group AdvaMed pushed back on the firings, calling on Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to reverse course. The group warned that the cuts would result in slower approvals for companies and fewer new treatment options for patients.
