President Donald Trump is reportedly planning to nominate Scott Gottlieb to head the Food and Drug Administration.
The nomination is likely to find support from the pharmaceutical industry given Gottlieb’s support for a faster drug approval process, according to FiercePharma. The nomination was first reported by Bloomberg, which cited “people familiar with the matter.”
Gottlieb has close ties to the pharmaceutical industry, serving on the product investment board of GlaxoSmithKline and as a partner at the venture capital firm New Enterprise Associates, according to the Washington Post.
In a recent post published on Forbes, for example, Gottlieb said Mylan’s EpiPen pricing scandal underscored “systemic problems with the regulatory process that governs the review and approval of generic copies of complex drugs,” and argued that the FDA “lacks the scientific and regulatory framework” to quickly approve generic counterparts that would create market competition.
The nomination may also receive support from the mHealth industry and digital health vendors. Gottlieb has argued that the FDA’s approach to mHealth apps is scaring off digital innovators.
Gottlieb currently serves as a fellow at the conservative-leaning American Enterprise Institute, but previously served as the deputy commissioner of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration under George W. Bush. He has also served as a member of the Federal Heath IT Policy Committee at the Department of Health and Human Services since 2013.