Press Statement: Good Riddance to FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb
Statement of Dr. Michael Carome, Director, Public Citizen's Health Research Group
Note: Today, media reports indicated that Dr. Scott Gottlieb will be resigning as the commissioner of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA).
Scott Gottlieb was entangled in an unprecedented web of Big Pharma ties when he was nominated in 2017 to be FDA commissioner. Not surprisingly, his tenure as commissioner was marked by regulatory decision making regarding medications and medical devices that tilted further in favor of industry’s financial interests rather than the interests of public health.
This includes the recent, reckless decision to approve the super-potent opioid, Dsuvia, and the withdrawal of a proposed rule that would have allowed generic drug companies to promptly update their labels with new warnings.
It’s imperative, but sadly unlikely, that the next nominee for FDA commissioner be someone who is independent from industry ties and will make protection of public health the agency’s top priority.