Transcript: Dr. Scott Gottlieb on "Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan," Aug. 23, 2026
The following is the transcript of the interview with former FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb, who is on the boards of Pfizer and UnitedHealthCare, that aired on "Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan" on Aug. 23, 2026.
MARGARET BRENNAN: We turn now to former FDA Commissioner Dr. Scott Gottlieb. He sits on the boards of Pfizer and United Health. Welcome back to Face the Nation. There was some good news this week, and I want to have you weigh in on it. We heard about this experimental mRNA therapeutic cancer vaccine that allows people with high-risk melanoma to live longer. So it- it doesn't prevent cancer. People hear vaccine, they might think that, but rather it's a collaboration between Moderna and Merck that is an effective treatment so far. How do you understand this mRNA breakthrough?
DR. SCOTT GOTTLIEB: Yeah, this can be highly significant. This is something that we've been working on for 30 or 40 years right now, and what's changed is that we have the ability to find proteins on the surface of cancer cells that can be used to try to train the immune system to identify cancer and prevent cancer recurrence. And so, this isn't a vaccine in a traditional sense. This is a form of cancer immunotherapy. We are delivering mRNA to try to train the body on proteins that are found on the surface of cancer cells, so that you can teach the T cells in the body to spot the cancer should it recur. And what the trial demonstrated, and we don't have the full results, we have to wait for the top line results to come out, but what the trial demonstrated was that it prevents cancer recurrence, so that basically, when the body is trained on these specific antigens, the T cells can be- be able to spot the cancer if it should recur in other parts of the body. I lost sound. I apologize.
MARGARET BRENNAN: Oh, it's okay. Can you hear me now, Dr. Gottlieb? Can you hear me now? I think we're trying to fix that. Let me take a quick commercial break, and let's see if we can get this fixed so all of us can hear each other. We'll be right back.
[COMMERCIAL BREAK]
MARGARET BRENNAN: Welcome back to Face the Nation. We have been having some technical issues, but I believe we can now once again hear Dr. Gottlieb, the former FDA commissioner, and that he can hear us. Sorry about those problems there. You can hear us?
DR. SCOTT GOTTLIEB: Thanks.
MARGARET BRENNAN: Great.
DR. SCOTT GOTTLIEB: I can.
MARGARET BRENNAN: I wanted to pick up- when we left you, you had been explaining the promising mRNA research. In terms of what the White House has said about this breakthrough, they said it vindicated HHS's decision to reduce federal funding of mRNA vaccine research, arguing the private sector can do it. What do you make of that spin?
DR. SCOTT GOTTLIEB: Yeah, look, I think that the statements from HHS pertain, in particular, to mRNA vaccines used for infectious diseases. This is different. Like I said, this is not a vaccine in a traditional sense. It's a cancer immunotherapy. I think it's a misnomer to call it a vaccine. There's a lot of different strategies that we use to try to train the immune system to identify cancer and prevent cancer recurrence right now, including CAR-T cells and other kinds of strategies that have been around for decades. And that's what this is. It happens to use mRNA to try to elicit those cancer antigens, those cancer proteins that are going to ultimately train T cells to identify cancer that might have spread distant parts of the body and weren't excised with surgery or with upfront chemotherapy, but it's not a vaccine. This is training the immune system to identify cancer to prevent recurrence.
MARGARET BRENNAN: Okay, you were the FDA commissioner at the beginning of the first Trump administration, and I know you've said to date you think the FDA has been doing a pretty good job handling these foodborne outbreaks that the country has been experiencing. HHS is pushing back pretty hard on any criticism of what's going on, saying that when it comes to recalls, they're at the lowest levels in more than a decade. Does that mean they're doing their job really well, or does that mean they're not doing their job?
DR. SCOTT GOTTLIEB: Yeah, look, I wouldn't point to recalls as a measure of whether they're doing a good job or not doing a good job. Recalls really don't comport with whether or not the overall program is effective, and I don't think the program is not being effective. I think if you look at this year, there haven't been more outbreaks than what we traditionally see, with the exception of that cyclospora outbreak, which was an extraordinary outbreak, and I think points to real problems with produce that we are sourcing from portions of Mexico, where you can't send in inspectors. The Mexicans and the U.S. can't send inspectors into those regions because they're controlled by cartels. As far as the recalls themselves, these are largely voluntary. There's only been one mandatory recall in the history of FDA. That was back in 2018. We took it when I was there. So these are voluntary recalls by companies, and there could be the fact that recalls are down because companies aren't taking recalls. It could be that recalls are down because they're not identifying outbreaks, and in fact, recalls aren't down. When you look at the actual numbers, recalls are up slightly. It's just not the- the metric I would point to to assess the overall effectiveness of the program. I think FDA has done a reasonable job this year getting on top of these outbreaks when they've been identified by CDC.
MARGARET BRENNAN: The FDA oversees roughly 20% of the U.S. economy. This is an important agency with oversight of food and drugs. The president did make a new selection. He says Dr. Heidi Overton should be the next commissioner. She's going to face some skeptics in Congress, including Republicans. Senator Bill Cassidy, who cited her lack of managerial experience, and as he put it, her active role in the nonsensical vaccine executive order makes him question her commitment to standing up for science and children's health. Do you think she's a strong candidate?
DR. SCOTT GOTTLIEB: I think she could be a strong candidate. Look, she has a deep policy background, having worked in the White House on the Domestic Policy Council for two years and oversaw FDA from that position. If you talk to people inside the agency, both senior career staff as well as the politicals, they feel very confident in her leadership. She has protected the agency on certain issues. They felt that she helped them advance their public health prerogatives. She also worked on the COVID response, trying to get testing back up and running in the early days of COVID, and was effective in that role if you talk to people who work with her. So I think she could be quite good in this role. I think this is first and foremost a policy role. It's really not an operational role. I think you need to have good operational people around you. You have to hire and retain good people and put them in key roles. You need strong leadership in the centers, and I think she has a sense that- that she needs to do that. She's been around FDA long enough to know that. But this is a policy role. It's a political job. She certainly has that experience, and I think having the relationship to the White House is going to be important.
MARGARET BRENNAN: But she's going to take questions about comments she has made about the abortion drug Mifepristone. She seemed to indicate she wants more federal restrictions on it. She stood next to the president in that Oval Office event where he- and she personally praised European countries who do not mandate vaccines for school but still have high vaccination rates. How tough is this confirmation hearing going to be?
DR. SCOTT GOTTLIEB: Well, look, I don't think she's going to lose votes because she's not skeptical of vaccines enough. I think she's going to lose votes if people perceive her as being weak on that issue. There's three senators in particular that I think are going to be concerned about that. And if you look at the criticism she's been getting on- on X, it's mostly from the anti-vaxxers. I think she's reasonably good on these issues. I think that press conference was unfortunate. I think unfortunately it's table stakes these days to getting a high-level appointment in a public health job in this administration to evidence some mixed messaging around vaccines. I'd like to see someone make a very full-throated statement in support of the childhood immunization schedule and basic protections for children, that's not what we're getting these days. I think hopefully, when she has time to explain herself before Congress and get into this in a more substantive way, and not just a press conference in the White House, you're going to hear something more thoughtful from her. That's my expectation. That would be my hope.
MARGARET BRENNAN: We will watch it if that hearing is scheduled. Dr. Gottlieb, I'm glad we got you back, and we could- we could hear you. We'll be back in a moment.
