Choices for New FDA Health Commissioner Abound
After any presidential election, there is certainly much change in the air with regards to various key positions in government, and one of them which is drawing much speculation from drugmakers and advocacy groups alike is that of the FDA commissioner.
The current commissioner, Andrew Von Eschenbach, is slated to resign before Obama takes office. Everybody has a different idea of who should replace him. Whoever it is will have command of a $2-billion budget and 11000 employees.
Drugmakers are strongly behind Janet Woodcock, an internist and rumitologist with 22 years’ experience within the FDA. Other advocacy groups favour candidates like Susan Wood, who had been the assistant commissioner for the FDA on women’s health, or Steven Nissen, a cardiologist who spoke out about the risks of Avandia, or Joshua Sharfstein, a paediatrician who petitioned the FDA to ban over the counter cough medicine marketed to children.
Typically, the new president first elects a secretary of health and human services, who then helps to select the new commissioner. Likely candidates for secretary of health are tom Daschle or Kathleen Sebelius, according to Obama’s health care advisers.
The new commissioner will have a lot of work to do to rebuild the trust of a public who feels the FDA has approved unsafe drugs and been lax on protecting the public from tainted imported foods.
