Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Efforts To Save Califf's FDA Nomination Pick Up
Stat: Doctors, Public Health Groups Mount A Rare Campaign For Biden’s FDA Pick
Some of the nation’s most influential doctors and public health groups are orchestrating a mad-dash effort to convince senators to confirm Robert Califf, President Biden’s pick to lead the Food and Drug Administration. Advocacy groups like the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids and Friends of Cancer Research are calling lawmakers and their staff. The American Heart Association is organizing an activist call-in campaign. Even celebrity doctors and Califf’s former colleagues at Duke University are phoning Capitol Hill. (Florko and Cohrs, 2/7)
Stat: Biden FDA Pick Vows To Reform Accelerated Approvals To Win Senator’s Vote
President Biden’s pick to lead the Food and Drug Administration promised a key senator that he will crack down on drug companies abusing the so-called accelerated approval pathway within a month of his confirmation. Robert Califf met with Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), the chair of the Senate Finance Committee, last week, STAT first reported. In a new letter made public Friday, Wyden provides a clear summation of his discussion with the nominee. Califf promised not to halt the use of the accelerated approval pathway, which allows the FDA to approve drugs without clear evidence they help patients live longer, but instead to discipline drug makers that get drugs approved via the shortcut pathway and then drag their feet on the follow-up clinical trials mandated by the FDA. (Florko, 2/4)
Roll Call: Wyden Probes FDA Nominee's Views On Accelerated Drug Approvals
Senate Finance Chair Ron Wyden, D-Ore., is pressing the White House's nominee to lead the Food and Drug Administration, Robert Califf, to pledge to crack down on drugmakers' use of fast-track approval pathways as the nominee seeks the chairman's support. Wyden's support of Califf is crucial to his confirmation vote in the closely divided Senate, especially given some other Democrats' concerns over the nomination. But Wyden's requests don't necessarily mean he's a no vote, a Finance Committee staffer said. Several Senate Democrats recently expressed skepticism about voting to confirm Califf, and several, including Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., and Maggie Hassan, D-N.H., have said they will not confirm the Biden administration's nominee. (Cohen, 2/7)
And more news from the Biden administration —
CBS News: Health And Human Services Secretary To Take More Active Public Role In Coming Weeks
President Biden on Friday phoned a man who, on paper, serves as one of the country's top federal health officials but, in reality, has kept a notably low profile as the COVID-19 pandemic continues to rage. In a recent phone call from the Oval Office, Mr. Biden told Health and Human Health Services Secretary Xavier Becerra that he is pleased with the former California congressman's oversight of the sprawling department, and that he looks forward to boosting secretary's profile in the coming weeks, multiple people confirm to CBS News. "He just wanted him to know directly that he feels good about the work going on at HHS and that, going forward, he looks forward to working closely together," said one of the people, who, like other administration officials and lawmakers familiar with the situation, was granted anonymity to speak frankly about the conversation. (O'Keefe, 2/6)
CNN: Xavier Becerra, HHS Secretary, Has Been A Background Player For Much Of His Tenure. He Says That's About To Change
Stung by accusations that he's been absent during a once-in-a-century public health crisis, Xavier Becerra -- the country's top health official -- tells CNN he's looking to step into a bigger public role as part of a reset a year into dealing with the dominant issue in his portfolio. President Joe Biden has been disturbed himself with the recent string of stories, and on Friday called his Health and Human Services secretary directly from the Oval Office to say he was pleased with the work being done and that he had Becerra's back, according to two people told about the call. This followed White House chief of staff Ron Klain reaching out to the Congressional Hispanic Caucus to reiterate support. On Sunday, the White House announced Becerra will join first lady Jill Biden Wednesday on a trip to Minnesota for a listening session on childcare provisions within the administration's Covid relief package. (Dovere, 2/6)
Stat: Eric Lander’s All-Staff Mea Culpa Is The Latest In A String Of Apologies
It wasn’t his first apology. But the sweeping mea culpa that Eric Lander issued this past week might have been his most remarkable yet. In an all-staff email, the White House science adviser apologized to his employees for speaking to them “in a disrespectful or demeaning way.” The letter, which Politico reported on Friday, represents just the latest in a string of Lander controversies dating back years. It is sure, also, to cement his reputation as a researcher whose brilliance is often interpreted, fairly or not, as arrogance. (Facher, 2/6)
