A new administration in the White House necessitates changes, but a familiar face may be returning to the FDA. Scott Gottlieb, MD, a fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, has been nominated to run the FDA. His previous experience with the agency, as deputy commissioner for medical and scientific affairs from 2005 to 2007, is one of the many reasons the Community Oncology Alliance (COA) has strongly endorsed Gottlieb’s nomination.

Gottlieb has extensive ties to the pharmaceutical industry, which has some patient advocates worried, but Ted Okon, MBA, executive director of COA, called those concerns “nonsensical.” He called Gottlieb one of the “most knowledgeable people in this country” about the pharmaceutical industry and he believes that any ties Gottlieb may have had to the industry will not influence him in anyway once he is FDA commissioner.

“He understands the drug industry better than anyone else,” Okon said. “That’s exactly what you want. And he understands some of it from the inside. Why wouldn’t you want that?”

Based on his experience of working with the nominee, and articles that Gottlieb has written, Okon is confident that the FDA under Gottlieb will become more modernized and have less burdensome regulations. This will not sacrifice safety, so drugs can get to the market faster, providing more competition in the market and bringing down the price of drugs.

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