News Brief: U.S. FDA Announces Limits to Industry Employees Serving on FDA Advisory Committees

On April 17, 2025, the U.S. FDA announced a new policy to restrict the participation of employees of regulated companies regulated from participating on FDA advisory committees. Instead, “the Agency will prioritize and elevate the role of patients and caregivers, strengthening the voices of their communities.”

FDA stated the new policy conforms to “U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s promise to carry out the Department’s work with ‘radical transparency’ and mitigate perceived industry influence and conflicts of interests.”

The policy “will not preclude employees of regulated companies from attending or presenting their views at advisory committee meetings or serving as representative members of the committee when required by statute.” FDA said there could be “rare circumstances” where an employee of a regulated company would serve on an advisory committee, such as when the expertise required is only available from an FDA-regulated company.

The full press release is available here.