Crawford’s White House Valentine Enclosed With FDA Nomination
This article was originally published in The Rose Sheet
Executive Summary
FDA Acting Commissioner Lester Crawford, PhD/DVM, has been nominated to fill the position permanently, the White House announced Feb. 14
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FDA Acting Commissioner Lester Crawford, PhD/DVM, has been nominated to fill the position permanently, the White House announced Feb. 14. Crawford is slated to have the longest stretch at the post since President Bush took office in 2001, and could become the first person to move from the acting role through full Senate confirmation. He was the top choice of former HHS Secretary Tommy Thompson to head the agency when Bush first took office, but did not receive the White House nod at that time. Instead, he was named Deputy Commissioner and served as acting commissioner from February 2002 until November of that year, when Mark McClellan, MD/PhD, was confirmed by the Senate. Crawford took the reins again in March 2004 when McClellan left to head Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. During his recent tenure, Crawford has presided over high-profile initiatives affecting the OTC and dietary supplement industries, including a proposed reorganization of the Center for Drug Evaluation & Research that would create an Office of OTC Drug Products (1 (Also see "OTC Drug Office Proposal Aimed At Balancing Funds, Workload" - HBW Insight, 1 Nov, 2004.), p. 9). His nomination appears to have the tacit support of most of the Senate Health Committee. After the Bush Administration's intention to nominate Crawford came to light, a bipartisan group of committee members wrote a letter urging the President to nominate a commissioner "as soon as possible." Health Committee Chairman Mike Enzi (R-Wyo.) issued a statement following the White House announcement. "I am pleased that the President has nominated Lester M. Crawford...and will convene hearings to review his nomination as quickly as possible." However, some of the issues that were raised when Crawford was first proposed for the job in 2001 are likely to come up again in 2005. Among them, Crawford does not have a medical degree; he holds a degree in veterinary medicine from Auburn University and a PhD in pharmacology from the University of Georgia. A group of consumer organizations led by the Consumers Union and U.S. Public Interest Research Group is urging the Senate to "vet the vet," stressing that Crawford must answer questions regarding his record, including FDA's "failure to protect the public from dangerous prescription drugs, dietary supplements and contaminated animal feed that could carry mad cow disease." |