Acting FDA chief expected to speed drug approvals

Experts predict that the patient and physician communities will be more involved in the agency's decision-making process.

By David Glendinning, AMNews staff. Oct. 17, 2005.

Washington -- If the new acting Food and Drug Administration commissioner has his way, the agency would get potentially lifesaving medications from the bench to the bedside much more quickly than it does now. That's the perception of many agency watchers, but some consumer advocates say such a push would be inappropriate for an agency under fire.

Late last month, President Bush named Andrew C. von Eschenbach, MD, to the post after the unexpected resignation of Lester Crawford, DVM, PhD, who left his position less than three months after receiving Senate confirmation. Dr. von Eschenbach will continue to hold his title as director of the National Cancer Institute.

Since taking the NCI helm in 2002, Dr. von Eschenbach has made its focus reducing cancer from a life-ending illness to a manageable chronic condition by the year 2015. Integral to this goal is an aggressive timetable for moving oncology drugs out of the testing phase and into physicians' reach.

"At the end of 2002, there were 100 new cancer drugs in the Phase III stage of clinical trials testing," he said soon after unveiling the 2015 agenda. "But given that only a handful of drugs receive FDA approval every year, it's obvious we need to do what we can to improve the process."

The prospect that this sense of expediency will accompany Dr. von Eschenbach to his new job has cheered the prescription drug industry.

"The administration has moved quickly and placed the Food and Drug Administration in good hands, allowing the FDA to move forward on a number of important issues," stated Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America President and CEO Billy Tauzin.