Pfizer Names Former FDA Chief Gottlieb to Board of Directors
Gottlieb was celebrated by drugmakers for moving quickly during his time atop the FDA to bring new treatments to market.
(Bloomberg) -- Scott Gottlieb, who stepped down as the chief of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration earlier this year, is joining Pfizer Inc.’s board of directors.
Gottlieb, 47, was celebrated by pharmaceutical companies for moving quickly during his time atop the FDA to bring new treatments to market. A medical doctor, he served as commissioner from May 2017 until this April, ending his tenure in part because he had been commuting to Washington from Connecticut.
“Through his work as a physician and his time at the FDA, Scott has continually demonstrated an understanding of both patients’ needs and the rapidly changing dynamics of biopharmaceutical research and development,” Pfizer Chief Executive Officer Albert Bourla said in a statement.
Gottlieb was a key player in the Trump administration’s push to lower pharmaceutical costs. Those efforts focused on approving hundreds of new generic medications, as well as targeting industry tactics that he and others blamed for keeping prices high. Pfizer, along with many other large drugmakers, was the subject of criticism by the Trump administration over some of the company’s price increases.
Gottlieb said in a message to Bloomberg that he joined New York-based Pfizer’s board because it is “uniquely positioned to continue having a big role in advancing global public health, and I’m honored to be a part of helping shape that future.”
Many past FDA commissioners have joined for-profit health companies. Former Commissioner Robert Califf, who served under the Obama administration, became an adviser to Alphabet Inc.’s Verily life sciences unit and a board member for biotechnology company Cytokinetics Inc. Andrew von Eschenbach, an FDA chief under President George W. Bush, serves on the board of Bausch Health Cos.
Speeding up the drug-approval process had been one of Gottlieb’s top priorities from the start of his time heading the agency. The FDA approved 59 new novel medications in 2018, including highly anticipated drugs to treat migraines. That was a jump from the 22 such medications cleared in 2016, and 45 in 2015, the last two years of the Obama administration.
He also championed efforts to curb e-cigarette use during his time at the agency.
--With assistance from Drew Armstrong.
To contact the reporter on this story: Cynthia Koons in New York at ckoons@bloomberg.net
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Drew Armstrong at darmstrong17@bloomberg.net, Timothy Annett, Mark Schoifet
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