The Revolving Door Never Stops Turning: Peter Marks Former FDA Vaccine Chief Joins Eli Lilly
As sure as the sun rises and sets, another government regulator has traded their government badge for a Big Pharma boardroom.
This time it’s Dr. Peter Marks, the former head of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research (CBER). Marks has taken a new position at Eli Lilly, where he will lead the company’s infectious-disease research division.
The move comes just six months after Marks’ resignation from the FDA, following a public clash with Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. over transparency around vaccine safety data. When Kennedy’s team requested access to internal databases tracking adverse events, Marks refused, calling the effort “an unprecedented assault on scientific truth.” Days later, he was gone.
Now, as Dr. Marks resurfaces in industry leadership, critics say it’s yet another example of the revolving door between regulators and the pharmaceutical giants they are supposed to oversee.
During his tenure at the FDA, Marks played a central role in fast-tracking COVID-19 products under Operation Warp Speed, frequently defending their safety and efficacy while dismissing public concerns. He also oversaw accelerated approval pathways for mRNA and gene-based products — the same class of technologies driving Eli Lilly’s current vaccine and therapeutic pipelines.
Marks’ new post is lucrative and strategic. For Eli Lilly, one of the world’s largest pharmaceutical firms, bringing in the former FDA vaccine chief offers a powerful insider advantage: deep knowledge of regulatory processes, key agency contacts, and a public reputation that can help shape policy and perception.
For the public, however, it reinforces a growing sense of institutional corruption — a system where loyalty to the industry appears to be rewarded, not penalized.
This common pattern has destroyed public trust in the very institutions meant to protect health and safety.
Sources: Maryanne Demasi PhD Substack and Reuters
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