The Food and Drug Administration saw a huge shake-up in leadership today.

Today, the FDA Commissioner, Dr. Marty McCarrie, resigned.

And how big a deal is that?

I think it's a huge deal. Our colleague Liz Esley White covers health policy.

He had a tumultuous tenure full of intrigue and palace drama and politics and conflict

in a way that we haven't really seen with any other FDA commissioner.

President Trump called McCarrie, quote, a terrific guy, but added that he was having some difficulty.

McCarrie, a surgeon by training, was sworn in as commissioner over a year ago, with promises to usher in a new era at the FDA.

He started phasing out artificial food dyes and cut down on the time it takes for drugs to get FDA approval.

But McCarrie also faced a lot of headwinds throughout his tenure. Patients on colleges and biotech investors have been pressing Commissioner McCarrie over a string of drug rejections, none more contentious than Replemun.

He's managed to make a lot of critics in the pharmaceutical industry who view him as unsympathetic to the cause of rare disease patients.

I don't work for Replemaun. I work for the American people, and I stand by the scientists at the FDA.

The White House has also blamed McCarrie for a mess of bad PR, from people he brought

on who then quickly left the agency.

That's according to people familiar with the matter.

The highest profile was Dr. Vene Prasad, who was hired, fired, and then rehired as the FDA's vaccine chief.

Prasad ultimately stepped down in March. Beyond the personnel issues, McCarrie has also been

criticized for not moving fast enough on issues important to the GOP. He has been targeted by anti-abortion advocates

who called for his resignation

after he promised a review of the safety

of the abortion pill and has not produced it.

But the vaping argument is what really catalyzed the movement towards, let's go ahead and pull the plug here.

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