The FDA isn't immune to the same kind of corruption/conflicts of interest that impacts other federal agencies.
Scott Gottlieb worked at the FDA at a high level, before leaving for a stint in the private sector which included being a partner in a VC fund which invested in many medical startups. He left that to become the commissioner of the FDA under the previous administration. Gottlieb is currently on the board of Pfizer, and has relationships with several other companies in the pharma space.
It's not insane to think this person still has sway with people who are working within the FDA and are considering a move to the private sector.
Doesn't matter. The USA is the key market for pharmaceuticals because of the outrageous prices that can be charged there. Example: Mylan charges $600 for an EpiPen that's $100 in other parts of the world, for no other reason than they can.
If a company wanted to, they could certainly use the online social media polarisation to poison any discussion.
Any discussion of the validity of Ivermectin as a COVID treatment is now "political", in the sense that Team Red thinks that its a gift from god, and Team Blue thinks any consideration of it is anti-science stupidity.
And since there is a strong correlation between Team Blue and the vocal science community, in a sense someone could drive consensus about a drug to make and studies into Ivermectin political instead of evidence-based - because who wants their university peers to think they are Team Red instead of Team Blue.
Scott Gottlieb worked at the FDA at a high level, before leaving for a stint in the private sector which included being a partner in a VC fund which invested in many medical startups. He left that to become the commissioner of the FDA under the previous administration. Gottlieb is currently on the board of Pfizer, and has relationships with several other companies in the pharma space.
It's not insane to think this person still has sway with people who are working within the FDA and are considering a move to the private sector.