Musk is going to eliminate The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), but they are making an exception for drug development.

The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID)’s work, including its efforts to strengthen pharmaceutical supply chains and deliver lifesaving medicines, is seemingly at a standstill as Elon Musk works to “shut it down.”

Musk, who heads up the Trump administration’s new Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), discussed his plans for the humanitarian aid organization in a Monday conversation on X Spaces.

“With regards to the USAID stuff, I went over it with (the president) in detail and he agreed that we should shut it down,” he said, as quoted by CNN. The billionaire Tesla CEO said he checked with President Trump “a few times” on the matter, according to the report.

Over the weekend, USAID’s top two security officials were placed on administrative leave after refusing to give DOGE representatives access to internal systems, The New York Times reported, citing three U.S. officials with knowledge of the matter.

The agency’s website and X account have been taken offline. An associated webpage called “Dollars to Results” displays a notice that it is “currently undergoing maintenance as we expeditiously and thoroughly review all of the content.”

During the first day of his term, Trump inked an executive order mandating a 90-day freeze in foreign assistance programs while the administration reviews them for “programmatic efficiency and consistency with United States foreign policy.” Programs not in line with the administration’s priorities stand to be terminated.

After contractors and partners who work with USAID received orders to stop work, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio issued a waiver allowing an exception for certain humanitarian assistance, according to a State Department memo reviewed by Reuters. The waiver covered life-saving medicines, medical services, food, shelter and subsistence assistance, plus supplies and “reasonable administrative costs” necessary to deliver such assistance.

USAID’s work in the pharma vein centers on providing medicines and vaccines to address tuberculosis, HIV, polio, malaria, Ebola and other health threats. The agency works with governments around the world to ensure sustainable access to “safe, effective, affordable, quality insured medical products,” according to an archived version of the organization’s website, and it operates several programs that run the gambit of drug development and health supply chains.

In 2023, USAID provided $42.45 billion in foreign aid, according to the U.S. government’s foreign assistance dashboard. Healthcare commitments totaled more than $7 billion of the agency's spending figure.

The organization regularly makes multimillion-dollar drug purchases. In October, the agency spent $2.3 million on 4.8 million doses of malaria tablets from Swiss Pharma in a partnership meant to expand access to essential medicines in Nigeria and West Africa.

And last May, USAID kicked off a two-year, $5 million project to produce, regulate and export medicines and active pharmaceutical ingredients in Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan.

By Zoey Becker Feb 3, 2025 11:46am