Robert F. Kennedy Jr. vowed to purge the U.S. Food and Drug Administration shortly before being chosen as President-elect Donald Trump's nominee for health secretary. Any changes he wants to make will come up against a pharmaceutical industry that pays much of the regulator's bills.

Food and Drug Administration commissioner Robert Califf said he was “disappointed” with the presidential election result and is uncertain about the agency’s future under Donald Trump. “I’m biased, but I feel like the FDA is at peak performance right now and we’ll just see what happens as the new team comes in,

The agency’s ability to hire and retain skilled employees may be in jeopardy given Trump ally Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s hostility to civil servants, Califf said. Trump has said he plans to give Kennedy, leader of the “Make America Healthy Again” movement, power over health care policy in his administration.