Possibilities for HHS Secretary, FDA Commissioner in Obama Administration Discussed

Democratic congressional staffers and others have begun "floating names for top health posts" in the administration of President-elect Barack Obama that include several possibilities for HHS secretary, the Wall Street Journal's "Washington Wire" reports. According to staffers, possibilities for HHS secretary include former Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle (D-S.D.); former NIH Director Harold Varmus; and Democratic National Committee Chair Howard Dean, a physician ("Washington Wire," Wall Street Journal, 11/5). Daschle has written a book that calls for an independent agency to oversee the health care system.

In addition, some individuals in "contact with the president-elect's health care advisers" have cited Kansas Gov. Kathleen Sebelius (D) as a possibility for HHS secretary, Bloomberg reports. Sebelius attempted to pass health care reform legislation and in 2003 became the first state insurance commissioner to formally reject a proposal for a BlueCross BlueShield Association plan to convert from a not-for-profit organization to a for-profit company, "slowing the pace for such conversions nationally," according to Bloomberg.

Former HHS Secretary Donna Shalala said that Obama will "want someone with stature and management experience." She said, "It's a complex, wide-ranging agency," adding, "If you don't know anything about health going in, it's a big problem" (Marcus/Goldstein, Bloomberg, 11/5).

FDA Commissioner
Democratic congressional staffers said that possibilities for FDA
commissioner in the Obama administration include Steven Nissen, a cardiologist at the Cleveland Clinic and an adviser to the Obama campaign; Mike Taylor, a former deputy FDA commissioner; Duke University cardiologist Robert Califf; Mary Pendergast, a former FDA official and a consultant to the pharmaceutical industry, and FDA Center for Drug Evaluation and Research Director Janet Woodcock.

According to the Journal's "Washington Wire," the pharmaceutical industry "would go to the mat to stop" Nissen, although he has "plenty of cred on Capitol Hill after raising alarms about drugs," and Taylor, although "well-liked by members of both parties, ... still gets knocked for the agency's approval of a genetically engineered hormone called bST to boost milk production in cows on his watch." Califf, although considered "OK with both sides of the aisle, ... has ties to industry that could raise flags," and Pendergast, although admired by Sen. Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.) and his "influential staffers," is an attorney, not a physician, a "drawback" to her candidacy, the Journal's "Washington Wire" reports. "Industry's favorite may be ... Woodcock," whose "backers have been pushing talking points to the media that she would be acceptable to both parties," but "Woodcock's been involved in some FDA controversies and drug problems that blew up in the House and Senate" and "infuriated" members of the "Senate committee that will confirm the new commish," according to the Journal's "Washington Wire" ("Washington Wire," Wall Street Journal, 11/5).

The new FDA commissioner "is likely to be tougher on drugmakers on a range of issues from approving new drugs to policing advertising directed at consumers" and will have the challenge of "rebuilding the agency's staff of scientists," the Journal reports (Mundy, Wall Street Journal, 11/6). In addition, the Journal's "Washington Wire" reports of "rumbling ... about a move to take the 'F' out of FDA by switching food regulation" to USDA and "creating a 24/7 food agency" ("Washington Wire," Wall Street Journal, 11/5).