Although President Bush has been quick to appoint a new Secretary for the department of Health and Human Services—Tommy Thompson—the administration has still to appoint a successor to the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) commissioner, Jane Henney.
Political appointees are required to leave with their president, but some Democrats claim Henney was forced out. She was the first woman commissioner and was a stronger proponent of increasing the science base at the FDA (Nature Med.5, 133; 1999). US Surgeon General David Satcher, a Clinton holdover, was named acting commissioner.
A new commissioner will likely be chosen for his/her ability to follow the Republican Party line, which is anti-big government and anti-abortion, according to Washington insiders, who add that that person will be unlikely to take a strong stance against issues such as tobacco or genetically modified foods.
Carl Feldbaum, Biotechnology Industry Organization president for the past 8 years and a Bush transition adviser, says that he has warned against choosing an ideologue. But it looks like the new commissioner's first act will be to overturn the approval of the abortion bill, RU-486—a drug that, during his confirmation hearings, Thompson said he would like to see withdrawn.
Feldbaum believes that the administration will try to avoid this, if only because a lengthy political battle at the start of the administration will distract the new commissioner from more important business, such as negotiations over the reauthorization of the Prescription Drug User Fee Act, which speeds drug reviews and is due to expire in October 2002.
