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Peter Pitts, president of the Center for Medicine in the Public Interest (CMPI) and former FDAstaffer, confirmed those rumors, both on DrugWonks.com -- CMPI's blog -- and when I called him yesterday. Pitts, who has advised the Obama transition team, said that Sharfstein and Califf were the only two names receiving serious consideration.
The gravity of Obama's choice seems to increase day by day. Yesterday, the Government Accountability Office placed the FDA on a list of "high-risk" areas of the federal government, to attract the attentions of legislators. "FDA needs to, among other things, improve the data it uses to manage the foreign drug inspection program, conduct more inspections of foreign establishments, systematically prioritize and track promotional materials for review, and adopt management tools to ensure that drug sponsors comply with regulations on the presentation of clinical trial results," the GAO report reads.
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Sharfstein, recently deflected speculation that he would be taking up the helm at FDA, telling a radio reporter, "I'm fully expecting to be health commissioner of Baltimore."
Califf, a cardiologist who is also director of Duke's Translational Medicine Institute, seems to be a logical fit for the FDA. He has served on the FDA's Cardio-Renal Advisory Committee and on committees and panels at the Institute of Medicine.
Though some blogs are reporting that Obama has already offered the FDA commissionership to one of these two guys, and that an announcement is imminent, we may have to wait a bit longer. "I would like to think a commissioner would be named before Valentine's Day," Pitts told The Scientist.
Related stories:
[12th January 2009]
[December 2008]
