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Gottlieb's Confirmation: Will Industry Ties Remain A Big Deal After The Hearing?

 
• By Derrick Gingery

The US FDA commissioner does not generally get involved with day-to-day activities, former FDA chiefs say, but perception of bias could be lasting problem.

Scott Gottlieb's industry ties are likely to be a focus of his April 5 Senate confirmation hearing to be US FDA commissioner, but they seem unlikely derail his confirmation, and even the recusals he'll take once he joins the agency probably won't have much of an impact on his activities. However, the perception of potential bias could create a public relations problem, especially if widespread belief that FDA is unduly relaxing its regulatory requirements surfaces.

In interviews with the Pink Sheet, several former senior FDA officials said that in practice, Gottlieb likely will rarely run into a situation where he could be placed in a potentially troublesome position, mainly because his duties likely will not involve activities, such as oversight of day-to-day drug review and approvals, that could reach the level of him participating "personally and substantially"

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