THROCKMORTON APPOINTED AS PERMANENT DEPUTY DIRECTOR OF CDER

The FDA has named Douglas Throckmorton permanent deputy director of the Center for Drug Evaluation and Research.

Throckmorton has been acting in the position since May 2004. In addition to sharing the responsibility for managing the CDER's broad national and international activities in drug regulation, Throckmorton has been the founding chair of the new Drug Safety Oversight Board, the liaison to the agency's human subjects research review board and the chair of the CDER's revitalized Research Coordinating Committee, CDER Director Steve Galson writes in a recent memo.

"Doug is also widely respected across FDA and around the world for his work to standardize and improve the preapproval testing for cardiovascular drugs," Galson notes. Prior to serving as CDER's deputy director, Throckmorton was the director of the agency's Division of Cardiovascular and Renal Drug Products (DCRDP). He joined DCRDP in 1997 as a medical officer and became director in 2002.