FDA Policy/General

Trump Candidate for FDA Post Deletes His Tweets

One of president-elect Donald Trump’s candidates (see earlier story) for leading FDA has deleted his Twitter posts, presumably to block the public from learning his thoughts and criticisms about the agency and other areas. Entrepreneur Balaji Srinivasan, who founded a genomic testing company and works at the venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz, met with Trump 1/12. He is also aligned with billionaire tech investor Peter Thiel (see earlier story).

Having a technology background, Srinivasan should know that deleting his tweets does not necessarily make them vanish. Long after he “deleted” them, his critiques about FDA were still available on a Google cache, including this one, saying that America “can do vastly better than FDA w/ a Yelp for drugs, including MD star ratings (like all other products).” Those were apparently taken down 1/17, although their headers remained. To see more of Srinivasan’s archived posts, fully view this post here by Wayne State associate professor and surgical oncologist David Gorski at Science-based Medicine blog.

Meanwhile, Trump’s pick to lead HHS, House Budget Committee chair Tom Price (R-GA) (see earlier story), heads to a Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee hearing 1/18. Committee members are expected to grill Price on ethics concerns. Last week, he agreed to divest stock ownership in over 40 companies if his appointment is confirmed by the Senate. One potential divesture involves a tiny Australian biotech, Innate Immunotherapeutics, that offered Price and another congressman a sweetheart deal, according to a Kaiser Health News report. The company sold nearly $1 million in discounted shares to the lawmakers, who sit on House committees with the potential power to advance the company’s interests, the report says.

Gupta Raises Concerns About Overton’s Independence, Ideology

FDA commissioner nominee Heidi Overton’s responses on vaccines, contraception and abortion medication during her 9/24 Senate confirmation hearing raise concerns that ideology could influence her decision-making if she takes over the agency, MSNBC senior medical analyst Dr. Vin Gupta said Friday. Gupta was particularly critical of Overton’

Overton Confirmation Remains Uncertain After Senate Hearing

FDA commissioner nominee Heidi Overton emerged from her Senate confirmation hearing Thursday (see earlier story) without resolving questions about whether she has enough Republican support to advance — and with a rapidly narrowing window for confirmation before the midterm elections. The Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee hearing provided few

FDA Classifies Boston Scientific Imager II Catheter Recall as Class I

FDA has classified Boston Scientific's recall of its Imager II Angiographic Catheters as Class I because a manufacturing problem could cause catheter tips to degrade and detach, potentially resulting in life-threatening complications. The agency announced the Class I classification 9/25, updating an Early Alert it issued

FDA Approves Gazyva for Childhood-Onset Idiopathic Nephrotic Syndrome

FDA has approved Roche’s Gazyva (obinutuzumab) for reducing the risk of relapse in adults and children aged 2 and older with frequently relapsing or steroid-dependent, childhood-onset idiopathic nephrotic syndrome who are in remission. The expanded approval covers the use of the CD20-directed antibody beyond its existing

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Gupta Raises Concerns About Overton’s Independence, Ideology

Overton Confirmation Remains Uncertain After Senate Hearing

FDA Classifies Boston Scientific Imager II Catheter Recall as Class I

FDA Approves Gazyva for Childhood-Onset Idiopathic Nephrotic Syndrome