May 2017

This week, the senate confirmed Scott Gottlieb, MD, as commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration by a vote of 57-41, largely along partisan lines. Gottlieb, an internist, served as deputy FDA commissioner under the George W. Bush Administration. He was most recently a resident fellow at the American Enterprise Institute and a partner in a venture capital firm, New Enterprise Associates. Gottlieb has served in other advisory roles for the federal government, including with the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. Gottlieb has been a supporter of accelerating the FDA's drug approval process.

Dr. Gottlieb also has ties to the e-cigarette industry, having served as director of Kure Corp., from March 2015 to May 2016 and continued to have financial interests in the company as recently as March 2017. Kure Corp. is a North Carolina company that distributes e-juices and vaping pens to vaping establishments. Dr. Gottlieb has indicated that he will sell his stake in the company once confirmed.