Former NY health chief to be FDA nominee

President Barack Obama plans to nominate former New York City health commissioner Margaret Hamburg to head the Food and Drug Administration, media reports said Wednesday.

Baltimore health commissioner Joshua Sharfstein, who led the Obama administration’s transition team for the FDA, will become Hamburg’s chief deputy, The New York Times said.

The selection of Hamburg, first reported on The Wall Street Journal’s website, was likely to be announced this week.

Hamburg did not respond to an e-mail seeking comment and could not be reached at the Nuclear Threat Initiative, where she works as a consultant.

Public health officials and experts welcomed the reported choice of Hamburg to the post, which requires Senate confirmation.

“There are few jobs in the federal government that are as tough or important as FDA commissioner,” said Jean Halloran, Director of Food Policy Initiatives at Consumers Union. “Dr. Hamburg’s nomination would mean that FDA would have the leadership it needs at a time when it faces huge challenges.”

Bill Vaughan, a Consumers Union health analyst, said his group wants to work with Hamburg to change the way the FDA approves medicines.

“In recent years, the agency has been too slow to protect consumers and too willing to give industries a pass on safety,” Vaughn said.

The FDA lacked a permanent commissioner for more than half of former President Bush’s eight years in office and struggled through a string of drug safety and tainted food controversies.

Under the Bush administration, the FDA was accused of allowing politics to interfere with science, particularly when it initially rejected over-the-counter sales of the Plan B emergency contraceptive

WASHINGTON (Reuters)