The Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee voted Thursday to send the nomination of Scott Gottlieb, MD, as head of the Food and Drug Administration to the Senate floor for a vote.
"Dr. Gottlieb is the right person to lead the FDA in its vital mission and move the agency forward so that America's patients benefit from the remarkable discoveries our nation's researchers are working on," Committee Chairman Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn., said in a statement announcing the vote. "He has impressive qualifications from nearly every perspective; he has been a practicing physician, held three roles at FDA and is a cancer survivor."
Dr. Gottlieb previously served as deputy commissioner of the FDA, senior advisor to the FDA commission and director of medical policy development for the FDA. He is a resident fellow at American Enterprise Institute, a conservative think tank, and advises major pharmaceutical companies such as GlaxoSmithKline, Cell Biotherapy and Bristol-Myers Squibb. Though no longer a practicing physician and hospitalist, Dr. Gottlieb serves as a clinical assistant professor at the New York University School of Medicine in New York City.
The committee was originally slated to vote on Dr. Gottlieb's nomination Wednesday, but postponed the vote to allow senators to review his answers to questions about potential conflicts of interest, according to The Street.
Ranking member Patty Murray, D-Wash., voted against Dr. Gottlieb because she felt he did not provide sufficient evidence to clear doubts about his industry ties. "I was encouraged that, in his answers to these questions, Dr. Gottlieb committed to upholding the gold standard of FDA approval, and to working on important priorities like improving the post-market surveillance of medical devices," she said. "But I am deeply disappointed in the lack of specificity in many of Dr. Gottlieb's other answers. Many of them were vague. And some questions were flat out ignored. Most importantly, his answers did little to address my concerns about whether Dr. Gottlieb is truly committed to putting families' health first."
The Hill reported Dr. Gottlieb's approval in the Senate HELP Committee indicates he will likely be confirmed in a full Senate vote.
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