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# Gottlieb Nominated by Trump as Next FDA Head
- URL: https://www.fdaweb.com/gottlieb-nominated-by-trump-as-next-fda-head/
- Published: 2017-03-10T12:00:00.000Z
- Updated: 2026-09-14T22:11:04.000Z
- Author: David McFarland
- Tags: FDA Policy/General, #legacy-id-D5138171

Former FDA deputy commissioner **Scott Gottlieb**, who served under **George W. Bush**, has been nominated by president **Donald Trump** for the FDA commissioner post. Drug company executives had earlier [signaled their preference](https://www.fdaweb.com/drug-industry-prefers-gottlieb-as-fda-commissioner-candidate/) for Gottlieb, who is a physician and fellow at the American Enterprise Institute.

In response to the nomination, consumer advocacy group Public Citizen [called ](http://citizen.org/pressroom/release.cfm?ID=10205&ref=fdaweb.com)for the Senate’s rejection of the Gottlieb pick due to his industry ties. “He has spent most of his career dedicated to promoting the financial interests of the pharmaceutical industry and the U.S. Senate must reject him.” the group says. “Gottlieb’s ties span decades, and he currently is serving or has recently served on five pharmaceutical companies’ boards including GlaxoSmithKline – one of the world’s largest pharma companies. Between 2013 and 2015, Gottlieb received a total of at least $413,000 from multiple pharma and medical device companies, most for consulting and speaking fees.”

When he served previously at FDA, Public Citizen continued, “he was recused from many key meetings and decisions due to his close relationship with industry... Aside from the tangle of industry ties, Gottlieb has advocated dangerous deregulatory approaches to the review process for new medications. In exchange for getting medications to the market faster, Gottlieb is willing to accept a greater degree of uncertainty about safety and effectiveness at the time of approval. He also has favored looser restrictions on off-label promotion. Gottlieb’s appointment would accelerate a decades-long trend in which agency leadership too often makes decisions that are aligned more with the interests of industry than those of patients.”