FDA Commissioner Resigns

FDA Commissioner Lester M. Crawford has resigned, effective Sept. 23, less than three months after he was confirmed. Andrew von Eschenbach, director of the National Cancer Institute, has been named acting FDA commissioner and, for now, he will hold both jobs.

Of his reason to resign, Crawford said, "It is time, at the age of 67, to step aside." The agency has refused to comment.

Several contentious issues came up during Crawford's tenure at FDA. During his confirmation hearing, for example, Health & Human Services Secretary Michael O. Leavitt said FDA would decide about over-the-counter sales of the morning-after pill Plan B by Sept. 1. But when FDA indefinitely postponed the decision in late August, Crawford came under attack. Agency scientists had already concluded that the Plan B pill is safe.

Crawford was also criticized for not acting to remove Merck's painkiller Vioxx from the market when early studies showed that it might be unsafe. Merck stopped selling the drug in September 2004.

Sen. Charles E. Grassley (R-Iowa), chairman of the Finance Committee, is gratified that there will be new leadership at FDA. "In recent years, the FDA has demonstrated a too-cozy relationship with the pharmaceutical industry and an attitude of shielding, rather than disclosing, information. The opportunity to name a new commissioner is a chance to take the agency in a necessary new direction," he says.

In an interview with reporters on Sept. 25, Eschenbach said there is a need to review FDA's drug approval process and to make emerging safety information available to patients.