President Trump selected a physician and political conservative, Scott Gottlieb, to become commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration, the White House announced. If confirmed, he will succeed Robert Califf, who held the job for the final 11 months of the Obama administration. Gottlieb was deputy FDA commissioner for medical and scientific affairs during the second term of President George W. Bush.
“Gottlieb would bring a strong pro-industry, deregulatory approach to an agency that Trump has criticized as being overly restrictive,” said the Washington Post. “But he is also likely to support one of the agency’s basic functions: to ensure that drugs are proven safe and effective before they are sold.” In that regard, the nomination would be a relief to the pharmaceutical industry. At least one front runner for the post want to allow sale of drugs before they were proven effective.
Gottlieb is a partner in a venture capital company, has been a consultant or adviser to drug and biotech companies and is a managing director of a merchant bank in Los Angeles, said the Post. “But Gottlieb has occasionally taken shots at the industry, especially over high drug prices.”