EXCLUSIVE: Pfizer Executive’s Role In FDA Commissioner’s Rise Stirs Concerns
Scott Gottlieb, the Food and Drug Administration commissioner turned Pfizer director and prominent critic of Robert Kennedy Jr., has been a key ally of incoming FDA Commissioner Heidi Overton, according to two former administration officials.
Emily Kopp·Oct 19, 2026·5 min read
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Scott Gottlieb, the Food and Drug Administration commissioner turned Pfizer director and prominent critic of Robert Kennedy Jr., has been a key ally of incoming FDA Commissioner Heidi Overton, according to two former administration officials.
Kennedy’s health department once mocked Gottlieb as emblematic of the revolving door between Big Pharma and government that most Americans hate. During the COVID pandemic, Gottlieb applauded the social media censorship of Kennedy, a leading critic of the vaccine made by Pfizer, and successfully lobbied Twitter to censor several others.
These days, Gottlieb is boosting Overton, further enmeshing the drug regulator and one of the world’s largest drug companies. Gottlieb has played a role in trying to get her confirmation over the finish line, two former Trump administration officials told the Daily Caller News Foundation. They were granted anonymity to discuss sensitive personnel matters.
A third former Trump administration official gave a different account of Gottlieb’s role, saying the former FDA commissioner had only been incorporated into the process as a “courtesy” by Overton.
“Gottlieb was not involved in any prep sessions or murder boarding for Overton’s confirmation hearings,” another source close to Overton said in a statement to the DCNF.
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EXCLUSIVE: Pfizer Executive’s Role In FDA Commissioner’s Rise Stirs Concerns — IJR
“I had the opportunity to speak with Heidi after she was nominated and believe she’ll bring valuable public health experience to the role. Her policy background and her understanding of the White House process will be an important asset to advancing the agency’s mission,” Gottlieb said in a statement to the DCNF.
Still, his endorsement of Kennedy’s choice for the nation’s top drug regulator marks a major pivot. Kennedy once described his leadership of HHS as a direct rebuke of the censorship of competing ideas and industry capture that defined the COVID era.
Ninety percent of voters of both parties want Big Pharma to have less influence in government, Trump’s go-to pollster found.
Gottlieb’s endorsement of Overton in STAT News was coauthored by Mark McClellan, who served as FDA commissioner under former President George W. Bush.
They praised Overton as a leader likely to earn the trust of FDA staff.
“Innovation in medicine has never moved faster, providing more ways for Americans to improve their health and for the United States to advance the health of its population. But the institutions that carry that progress forward are under strain,” they wrote in STAT on Sept. 22. “Overton has a chance to help bridge that divide — and the experience to do it.”
Overton faces an uncertain path to confirmation on Capitol Hill in part because of her role in an executive order that President Donald Trump signed in August to give families more flexibility with the childhood vaccination schedule.
Overton must walk a delicate tightrope: garner the support of Big Pharma critics in the Make America Healthy Again (MAHA) base while securing the vote of industry-friendly senators who accept drugmakers’ political donations.
Overton could not be reached for comment. McClellan did not respond to a request for comment.
FDA Deputy Commissioner for Policy, Legislation, and International Affairs Grace Stuntz Graham has acted as the Overton’s “sherpa” — the key government official who prepares a nominee for the Senate confirmation process — a former Trump administration official told the DCNF.
Graham previously worked with Gottlieb’s former top aide Lowell Schiller on the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions under former Chair Lamar Alexander.
Overton spoke with Schiller and another top Gottlieb aide, Lauren Silvis, and the discussion may have included details about FDA operations, according to one former administration official.
Another former administration official with direct knowledge described it as a “prep session” for her Senate confirmation hearings in September.
Silvis served as Gottlieb’s chief of staff at FDA, while Schiller led the FDA policy shop. They remain connected: Gottlieb serves on the board of Tempus AI, an AI in precision medicine company where Silvis serves as senior vice president for external affairs. In 2019 Gottlieb was appointed to the board of Aetion, a healthcare data company where Schiller serves as an advisor. Datavant acquired the company in 2025.
Graham, Silvis and Schiller did not respond to a request for comment. Gottlieb declined to comment.
Gottlieb’s influence at Kennedy’s HHS may surprise many familiar with his public comments.
When Kennedy sought Senate confirmation for his position, Gottlieb excoriated him as lacking a basic understanding of the job.
“He didn’t know the fundamentals of the programs he’s going to be administering,” he said in a 2025 interview. “I really question whether Kennedy is going to have the ability to actually implement the things that he talks about at an aspirational level when he shows such a profound lack of knowledge of these agencies. I’ve never seen him articulate any substance behind his policy views.”
Gottlieb slammed Kennedy’s overhaul of a vaccine committee with a history of corporate ties as “political” and said it could ultimately deprive families of vaccines. Kennedy risks taking down “the whole pediatric vaccine enterprise,” Gottlieb warned last year.
Gottlieb has received $2.5 million in cash and stock from Pfizer since 2019, according to company filings to the Securities and Exchange Commission.
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