EXCLUSIVE: Big Pharma Insider Backing RFK Jr.’s Pick To Lead FDA
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
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.
“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.