Trump's FDA chief resigns as admin pushes forward on drug pricing plan
Scott Gottlieb, President Trump's head of the Food and Drug Administration, resigned from his post on Tuesday and is expected to depart the agency in April.
"Over the past 23 months, I've been privaleged to work with an outstanding team at the Food and Drug Administration, and to collaborate with the professional staff on the implementation of many meaningful initiatives that have advanced the public health," he wrote in a resignation letter. "I'm confident that the FDA will continue to advance all these efforts, and many other goals."
Trump in a post on Twitter said Gottlieb "has done an absolutely terrific job" and that "his talents will be greatly missed."
In a statement, Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar said Gottlieb was "an exemplary public health leader, aggressive advocate for American patients, and passionate promoter of innovation."
Rumors have swirled in recent months that Gottlieb would resign amid the White House's ongoing efforts to reign in high drug costs. While the FDA reviews treatments for safety and effectiveness before they can be used by the general public, it does not have direct control over prices.
In an administration full of controversial agency heads, Gottlieb has earned bipartisan praise -- even from Democrats, who were initially skeptical of the nomination given his past work for drug firms -- for the FDA's efforts to speed the approval of generic treatments and reduce the use of e-cigarettes among the nation's youth, among other iniatives.
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His departure tees up a potentially challenging confirmation process for his successor, given the Senate's focus on high drug costs and Democrats seizing on the issue ahead of the 2020 election.
The chamber's finance panel recently held a hearing on the topic with CEOs of seven major pharmaceutical firms.