White House Reportedly No Longer Considering Alastair Wood for FDA Head
Vanderbilt University pharmacology professor Alastair Wood will not be nominated by President Bush to be commissioner of the FDA, the Nashville Tennessean reports. According to Vanderbilt spokesperson Clinton Colmenares, a White House official telephoned Wood on Feb. 18 to inform Wood that the president "no longer considered him a candidate." Wood's potential nomination had been opposed by pharmaceutical companies, which were critical of his support for reviewing prescription drugs "even after they are approved" by the FDA. Drug makers said they feared that such reviews would slow down the approval process for new drugs. In addition, as a member of an FDA advisory panel, Wood voted last year to allow several prescription allergy drugs to be sold over the counter. Bush has yet to announce a choice for FDA commissioner (Lewis, Nashville Tennessean, 2/21).
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