FDA Fires Staffers Who Reviewed Applications From Musk’s Neuralink, Then Rescinds Terminations

Last week, Food and Drug Administration officials were fired as part of the Trump administration’s streamlining of the federal workforce. Now, the administration rescinded terminations across multiple agencies over the weekend, including employees from the FDA who were fired.

The cuts included about 20 people in the FDA’s Office of Neurological and Physical Medicine Devices. Over the weekend, several employees reviewing Elon Musk‘s brain implant company, Neuralink, were fired. The FDA said the employees were not specifically targeted because of their work on Neuralink’s applications. Similar to other government agencies, the cuts affected scientists reviewing medical device applications who were new in their roles. 

Of the 300 employees the FDA plans to rehire, 11 have received calls saying they could return to work on Monday. At least three of the employees asked to rejoin the FDA received termination letters telling them their performance had “not been adequate to justify further employment at the agency.” The White House fired over 1,000 FDA staffers, of which less than a third were connected to Neuralink. 

The FDA rehirings are part of the Trump administration’s larger efforts to rehire employees with vital positions in federal agencies, including some employees responsible for U.S. nuclear weapons and scientists working on the outbreak of bird flu.

The FDA approved the startup to begin clinical trials in 2023. At the time, Musk said the company would try to use the implants to restore vision and mobility in humans who had lost such abilities. “We would initially enable someone who has almost no ability to operate their muscles… and enable them to operate their phone faster than someone who has working hands,” he said.

The FDA rejected the company’s initial application for clinical trials in 2022, citing safety concerns involving the device’s lithium battery. It posed the potential for the implant’s wires to migrate to other brain areas, raising questions over whether and how the device can be removed without damaging brain tissue, employees at the FDA said.