As has been the case with other high-profile cabinet picks, Donald Trump appears to be considering at least one figure who is highly unconventional and distrusted by the establishment for the head of the FDA.
NBC reports Trump is pondering Jim O’Neill, who is a longtime colleague of PayPal billionaire Peter Thiel, a major Trump backer. O’Neill, like Thiel, describes himself as a libertarian and has said the FDA should have far less ability to restrict new drugs from entering the market before their safety and effectiveness has been judged.
Even the pharmaceutical industry would likely be skeptical of a vehemently anti-regulation FDA chief, says Michael Gaba, who works on health care policy for Holland & Knight, in an interview with NBC.
Drug companies that have spent billions to win approval for their drugs will not appreciate the barrier being lowered for competitors. They want FDA approval to remain an important distinction that assures customers of their product’s value.
"They want the FDA's Good Housekeeping seal of approval," says Gaba.
The other person reportedly being considered for the post, Scott Gottlieb, is similarly a venture capitalist but has far more conventional credentials. He is a doctor and is a resident fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, the influential conservative think-tank, where he frequently writes about health care.
What both potential picks have in common with each other and other members of the transition is their ties to finance. O’Neill has been a big player, along with Thiel, in the world of Silicon Valley investment, while Gottlieb is a managing director of T.R. Winston & Co, an investment bank in Los Angeles. He also sits on the boards of numerous companies.
The FDA has come under scrutiny in the past year over what critics describe as its role in facilitating the opioid addiction crisis. A small bipartisan group of senators opposed the confirmation of the current FDA chief, Dr. Robert Califf, in protest of what they saw as a laissez faire attitude from the FDA towards powerful prescription painkillers that have led millions of Americans to crippling addiction, including to elicit drugs, such as heroin.
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