Wednesday, March 29, 2017

Head of FDA: Scott Gottlieb's Senate Hearing Set for April 5, 2017

Dr. Scott Gottlieb, the administration's nominee to head the FDA, has been scheduled for Senate hearings on April 5.

Media coverage has focused on Gottlieb's extensive industry consultations and ties during the 8 years since he served in the Bush administration.  Current news articles refer to a 41-page federal ethics filing.   For more details see:
In 2006, Gottlieb became a Hodgkin's lymphoma survivor.  Observer.com cites Gottlieb's nomination as "a big win for science" (here),   Global Healthy Living Foundation endorses him (here) as does Patients Rising (here) and DrugWonks (here).  Some other sources praise faintly ("To his credit, Gottlieb is not certifiably crazy...;" MedPageToday, here.)  One of Gottlieb's major position pieces, on changing the FDA's culture, appeared in National Journal in 2012 (open access, here.)

Per the NYT, Gottlieb's financials from January 2016 to February 2017 included $1.8M from investment firm T.R. Winston, and additional compensation from venture capital firm NEA, direct pharma consulting, and positions on boards.  His position as a scholar at American Enterprise Institute is also compensated.   Gottlieb is a graduate of Mt. Sinai Medical School and its internal medicine residency, maintains a Connecticut medical license, and has often worked weekend shifts at a hospital there while maintaining other positions such as a senior policy position at FDA during the Bush 43 administration.   In 2016, Gottlieb donated to support Congressman Ben Sasse, who was one of the most vocal opponents of the Trump candidacy (US News, here.)