‘Usually everybody loves money’: Trump’s FDA chief to start giving bonuses for faster drug reviews

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration is adopting a strategy long used in the private sector to increase productivity: paying employees to move faster.

FDA Commissioner Marty Makary announced last week that the federal agency will begin offering performance-based cash bonuses to staff who complete drug reviews ahead of schedule. The pilot program, dubbed the “Reviewer Recognition and Excellence” program, involved “some wrangling” by the commissioner, who apparently told FDA staffers as much, according to the Associated Press.