On March 27, local time, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) announced that it will cut approximately 10,000 full-time positions, including about 3,500 full-time employees at the FDA. Although the U.S. Department of Health stated that this will not affect the approval of medical devices and drugs, industry insiders have expressed concerns.

The latest layoffs involve 3,500 people at the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), 2,400 at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), and 1,200 at the National Institutes of Health (NIH). This is part of President Trump and Musk's cost-cutting plan for the government efficiency department.

The HHS oversees vaccines and other drugs, scientific research, public health infrastructure, pandemic preparedness, as well as food and tobacco products, and manages the government-funded healthcare system for millions of Americans.

Over the past few months, HHS has gradually eliminated nearly 10,000 positions, and with the latest 10,000 departures, the number of full-time employees at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services will decrease from 82,000 to approximately 62,000. The layoffs primarily target administrative roles, including human resources, information technology, procurement, and finance.

HHS also announced in the notice that it will merge 28 of the agency's departments into 15, reduce regional offices from 10 to 5, and establish a new "Administration for Healthy America" (AHA). Layoffs will save the Department of Health $1.8 billion annually.

Although HHS emphasized that the layoff plan would not affect the FDA's review process for drugs, medical devices, or food, the large-scale layoffs have raised concerns within the industry. A spokesperson for the medical device industry group AdvaMed stated that the organization has heard concerns from companies about the FDA's inability to complete medical device approvals within the required timelines. According to AdvaMed's data, the FDA approved over 3,000 medical devices last year.