The Risks of Conflating Science with Politics

Marty Makary is reportedly out as head of FDA. This comes during a turbulent time for health agencies in the US government. Since coming into power last year, the current administration has made significant changes to leadership roles, with entire committees being removed and replaced.

Pharmaceutical Executive recently spoke with author Dr. Jeremy Levin, who’s promoting his new book Biotech in the Balance: Saving a Strategic Industry in an Age of Distrust. During the conversation, he discussed issues caused by current leadership, along with other problems that have been developing for years.

According to him, the industry must address its relationship with the capital markets, address misinformation issues, and push back against the politicization of medical research and development.

Pharmaceutical Executive: What is the state of FDA at the moment?
Jeremy Levin: FDA, an iconic institution, is undergoing massive change. Its current state is at best, unclear. About 90% of the leadership since last year has gone, so institutional knowledge is profoundly disrupted.

The leadership there is not clear how it's going to be changing or where the direction will be. There have been lot of very good statements, but at this stage, I'm uncomfortable opining on what actually is going on, except the following: number one, there's a lot of disaffected individuals who are very, very troubled by what's happened, and there is a clear sense that we do not have certitude about where we're going.

PE: What are the risks of conflating politics with science?
Levin: The fundamental risk in introducing politics into science is much like what we saw with Lysenko in Russia. The minute you bring policy politics and say that politics override fact, at that minute you change the very fundaments of what has created the industry that we know.

In the pharmaceutical industry, we rely on facts 100%. They cannot. When you do an experiment and it says something that's a fact, you can't simply then change that by politics.

You can try and refute the fact by an experiment, but you cannot make it right or wrong with a political decision. The minute you do that, you completely undercount the foundations of the industry, which is rigorous, scientific, factual truth.