Word: fda
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...House would try to avoid any appearance of cronyism in job appointments requiring technical expertise. You might think that after the Plan B contraceptive flap and safety problems with drugs like Vioxx, it would seek to avoid controversy while picking someone to run the embattled Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Think again...
...Administration moved swiftly to name Dr. Andrew von Eschenbach as interim FDA chief after the September departure of Commissioner Lester Crawford just two months after his confirmation. (The Senate is investigating a possible failure to disclose financial interests.) Von Eschenbach, a Texas urologist with close ties to the Bush family, has no regulatory experience. Plus, he's already fully engaged. He has headed the National Cancer Institute (NCI) since 2002. The plan: have him do both jobs...
...surgeon and two-time cancer survivor is known for taking on outsize tasks, reflected best in his controversial vow to "end suffering and death due to cancer" by 2015. In a letter to the heads of major U.S. cancer centers, he talked up the virtue of having the FDA and NCI "work together" to smooth the path from lab bench to bedside...
...where the new chief sees synergy, others see conflict of interest. NCI supports research on treatments reviewed by the FDA. "How can you wear both hats and be true to the missions of both organizations?" asks Merrill Goozner of the Center for Science in the Public Interest. Von Eschenbach also sits on the board of a nonprofit cancer advocacy group called C-Change--along with execs from major drug firms...
...means waiting until long after drugs have been approved and desperate hopes raised to learn what might have been gleaned much sooner. The FDA has come under increasing criticism for mishandling the drug-approval process, culminating last week in the resignation of its chief, Lester Crawford. Maybe it's time for Congress to redefine that process. "The FDA should not approve a drug unless it is shown to be better in some way than the existing drugs," suggests Dr. Marcia Angell, former editor of the New England Journal of Medicine and author of The Truth About the Drug Companies...