The chief medical officer at Houston’s M.D. Anderson Cancer Center, Dr. Stephen Hahn, is reportedly set to be nominated as the next commissioner at the FDA, supplanting other candidates including acting commissioner Dr. Ned Sharpless.
Sharpless, who led the National Cancer Institute until taking on the acting commissioner role in March, succeeded Dr. Scott Gottlieb in April. Hahn’s name was one of several bruited about for the permanent job, joining Sharpless, Harvard dermatology professor Dr. Alexa Boer Kimball and assistant secretary for health Dr. Brett Giroir.
Yesterday BioCentury, citing “sources familiar with the decision,” said the Trump administration decided to nominate Hahn for the role, pending a round of FBI background checks. The administration has until Nov. 1 to either nominate a permanent commissioner or name another acting commissioner. Sharpless is likely to stay on during the nomination process and then return to lead the NCI, the website reported.
Hahn, a longtime Republican donor, backed all of the Republican presidential nominees dating back to Mitt Romney but did not support Trump, according to STAT.
In September, a group of former FDA commissioners and a coterie of health groups backed Sharpless over the other names said to be in consideration for the job.
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