The Food and Drug Administration, which regulates about a quarter of every dollar Americans spend, has a new boss — and he's already under fire for beingtoo cozy with the pharmaceutical industry.
Dr. Robert M. Califf, a cardiologist and researcher, was nominated by President Obama in September to become the new commissioner of the agency. Hisconfirmation by the Senate was delayed by lawmakers, many of them Democrats, who worried that his links with the pharmaceutical industry would bias his ability to regulate that business and who voiced disapproval over the FDA's handling of the opioid abuse crisis in America.
"F.D.A. stands for Food and Drug Administration, but over the last 20 years it really stands for ‘fostering drug addiction,' " Sen. Edward J. Markey (D-MA), said in a Senate floor speech today.
Despite the reservations, Califf was officially confirmed to the position in a 89 to 4 vote.
Califf has worked with many drugs companies, as both a paid consultant and through his research. As Scientific American points out, "In a recent article in the New England Journal of Medicine, Califf listed over a dozen pharmaceutical companies in his conflict-of-interest disclosure."
Unlike previous commissioners, he did not come from a public health background. Instead, the New York Times reported, he "ran a multimillion-dollar clinical research center at Duke University that received more than 60 percent of its funding from industry."
