General Discussion

Nov 12, 2021

President Joe Biden has officially nominated former Obama administration pick Robert Califf, M.D., as his new FDA commissioner.

This comes right before Nov. 15, the final day Janet Woodcock, M.D., the acting commissioner, can stay in the interim role, and 10 months after Biden’s inauguration.

An FDA veteran, Woodcock has two stints heading up the Center for Drug Evaluation and Research—from 2008 until now and from 1994 to 2005. In between, she served in the FDA commissioner’s office. Most recently she served as part of Operation Warp Speed, overseeing COVID-19 therapy development.

She had initially been seen as a favorite to take the top job on a full-time basis but appeared to lose confidence from some key Washington insiders after the approval of Biogen’s expensive and controversial Alzheimer’s drug Aduhlem.

https://www.fiercebiotech.com/biotech/at-eleventh-hour-woodcock-shunned-by-biden-as-recycled-pick-califf-becomes-fda-commis