Donald Trump's FDA Commissioner Nomination Is Not Much Of A Shocker

President Donald Trump's viewpoints regarding hastening the FDA drug approval process are no secret. Previous Deputy commissioner of FDA, Scott Gottlieb, has almost similar views regarding the necessity of speeding up the currently followed drug approval process. It seems these similarities may have played an important role in Trump's decision of nominating Scott Gottlieb to be the next FDA commissioner.

The announcement was made via a tweet that was posted last Friday by Sean Spicer, the White House Press Secretary. The tweet read "@POTUS has announced his intent to nominate Scott Gottlieb as next Commissioner of the FDA."

The agency is currently run by acting commissioner Dr. Stephen Ostroff, after Dr. Robert M. Califf voluntarily stepped down from the post the day Donald Trump was sworn in as the new President. Scott Gottlieb will take the official charge of the agency after receiving official confirmation from the President's office, Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology News reported.

Scott Gottlieb was the deputy commissioner of the FDA during Bush's presidency and is highly familiar with the agency's modus operandi inside and out. He is presently working as a resident fellow for the American Enterprise Institute, an organization that helps in embracing free enterprise approaches to federal policies. It is evident that he possesses the knowledge and the experience required to lead the FDA. This is why President Donald Trump and his advisors deemed him fit to be nominated as the next FDA commissioner.

Furthermore, Scott Gottlieb is a firm advocate of modifying the prevalent FDA guidelines, especially those concerned with the process of drug approval, just like Trump. According to him, this can not only help in propagating the availability of newly developed drugs but it will also cause a significant reduction in their prices. Though the proposed method has shown positive results in the FDA cancer division, its impact on the generic medicine market is yet to be found out, Fierce Biotech reported.

While Scott Gottlieb's nomination is pending confirmation from the members of the Senate, there have been allegations that his industry connections and his "dangerous deregulatory approaches" may deter the quality of the approved drugs. In the meantime, Dr. Califf has criticized the notion that regulatory guidelines of FDA are impeding the availability of new drugs. He further explained that overlooking these regulatory aspects may lead to dangerous consequences.