Former Wall Street Biotech Stock Tout Now Holds #2 Position At FDA

[hatrack]

Only a month ago, Dr. Scott Gottlieb was a Wall Street insider, promoting hot biotech stocks to investors. Now Gottlieb holds the No. 2 job at the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), the federal agency that approves new drugs, oversees their safety and affects the fortunes of companies he once touted.

Wall Street likes the appointment of Gottlieb, 33, who believes in faster drug approval and fewer news-release warnings to the public about potential side effects of drugs. But some medical experts are shocked by his July 29 appointment, coming at a time when the public is increasingly concerned about the safety of popular medicines. In addition, the federal government has just begun scrutinizing the growing financial ties between Wall Street firms and doctors researching new drugs.

Gottlieb's new job "further impedes the independence of the FDA," said Dr. Jerome Kassirer, former editor of The New England Journal of Medicine. "Gottlieb has an orientation which belies the goal of the FDA." "I've never heard of anything like this," said Merrill Goozner, a director at the liberal Center for Science in the Public Interest. "If he's had dealings regarding companies whose products are up for review at the agency, it strikes me as a potential conflict of interest. You want a barrier between the regulated and the regulators. It's fundamental," Goozner said.

A half-dozen current or former officials at the FDA say they do not know of anyone from Wall Street moving directly into such a high-level job at the agency. Until last month, Gottlieb was editor of a popular biotechnology investor newsletter, Forbes / Gottlieb Medical Technology Investor. Forbes touted Gottlieb's stock-picking success on its Web site in mid-May: "Special Offer: In the last few months, Dr. Scott Gottlieb recommended two cancer cure stocks to subscribers that have already climbed 38%. Click here for the latest report from Forbes / Gottlieb Medical Technology Investor, 'Three Biotech Stocks To Buy Now.'

EDIT

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/health/2002450292_gottlieb24.html

Why am I not surprised? Why am I not surprised one little bit?