ESCHENBACH APPOINTS CO-CHAIRS FOR FDA'S PANDEMIC FLU TASK FORCE

Acting FDA Commissioner Andrew von Eschenbach has named Boris Lushniak and Jeffrey Shuren co-chairs of the agency's new Task Force on Pandemic Influenza.

Formed as part of a "cross-functional, intra-agency" initiative, the pandemic task force will be charged with spearheading FDA's participation in the President's National Strategy for Pandemic Influenza and the Department of Health and Human Services' Pandemic Influenza Plan, Eschenbach said in a recent memo.

The task force will incorporate the FDA's Pandemic Influenza Rapid Response Team, which Eschenbach formed late last month. The response team will work with the HHS, the NIH, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and industry to increase manufacturing of existing vaccines, develop new treatments, and prevent the sale of counterfeit or fraudulent treatments.

Lushniak is the FDA's assistant commissioner for counterterrorism policy, while Shuren is the agency's assistant commissioner for policy.