FDA Vaccine Chief Vinay Prasad Set to Leave Post Next Month (2)

The head of the US Food and Drug Administration’s division of vaccines and gene therapies is leaving the agency after a tumultuous tenure, sending biotech shares higher in late trading on Friday.

Vinay Prasad will depart the Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research next month to return to his prior career in academia. Prasad sparked controversy for overruling his own scientific review staff at times and taking a confrontational approach that critics said would stymie scientific innovation and slow approvals for rare disease drugs.

The end of Prasad’s tenure is “a sigh of relief” for the biotech industry, BMO Capital ...