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Califf Clears First Senate Hurdle, But FDA Abortion Pill Decision May Complicate Final Confirmation

 
• By Sarah Karlin-Smith

Republican opposition to Califf over the agency’s recent move to relax its Mifeprex restrictions is ominous since in order be confirmed as FDA commissioner he’ll need enough GOP votes to make up for Democratic opposition over his opioid track record and connections to the drug industry.

Robert Califf testisified 14 Dec 2022 at the Senate HELP committee
Robert Califf testified on 14 December at the Senate HELP Committee • Source: Alamy

The Senate Health Committee voted 13-8 on 13 January to advance Robert Califf’s nomination to lead the US Food and Drug Administration. The positive but close vote sharply contrasted with his unanimous committee vote when he was confirmed to lead FDA under President Barack Obama and is indicative of a much tougher fight Califf is likely to face on the Senate floor this go round.

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More from US FDA

FDA Leadership Shuffle Continues: Lowell Zeta Returns As OPDP, OGD Leaders Depart

 
• By Sue Sutter and Derrick Gingery

Lowell Zeta, a senior counselor at the FDA from 2020 to 2021, returns as deputy commissioner for strategic initiatives. The agency also names a new acting CIO and acting CVM director, but OGD's Ted Sherwood and OPDP's Catherine Gray retired.

US FDA’s Makary Floats Vague ‘Plausible Mechanism’ Approval Pathway For Rare Diseases

 
• By Sarah Karlin-Smith

Ascertaining the novelty and benefits of Makary’s new drug approval idea – along with what it would take to implement it – requires more clarity on the types of studies he envisions being used to grant and confirm “plausible mechanism’ approvals.

US FDA Commissioner Makary Wants To Combine Adverse Event Reporting Systems

 
• By Sarah Karlin-Smith

In discussing FDA’s adverse event monitoring, Makary also seemed to falsely imply the agency did not fully investigate the myocarditis signal with COVID-19 vaccines.

US FDA User Fee Collection Safe In Preliminary Trump 2026 Budget Plan

 
• By Cathy Kelly

The preliminary White House 2026 budget plan cuts agency funding, but not so sharply that user fees are excluded from collection.

More from Agency Leadership

US FDA User Fee Collection Safe In Preliminary Trump 2026 Budget Plan

 
• By Cathy Kelly

The preliminary White House 2026 budget plan cuts agency funding, but not so sharply that user fees are excluded from collection.

FDA Special Assistant Høeg’s Vaccine Concerns On Display At ACIP

 
• By Sue Sutter

Tracy Beth Høeg, who is reportedly re-examining Novavax’s COVID vaccine application, is the FDA rep at the CDC panel’s first meeting under the Trump Administration. She raised concerns about routine use of Jynneos for adolescents at risk of mpox and questioned how Moderna assessed efficacy of its COVID vaccines.

FDA Reorganization Proposal A ‘Mindless Approach To Centralization,’ Woodcock Says

 
• By Sue Sutter

Plan to reorganize the agency into five offices was designed by someone who does not understand the FDA, former long-time agency official Janet Woodcock says. The proposal would eliminate highly specialized expertise in favor of “a big team of generalists,” former Principal Deputy Commissioner Joshua Sharfstein says.