VON ESCHENBACH CONFIRMED TO HEAD FDA

The Senate Dec. 7 voted 80-11 to confirm Andrew von Eschenbach as FDA commissioner.

Confirming von Eschenbach will make oversight of the agency more difficult in the next session, a spokeswoman for Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) said. Grassley placed a hold on the nomination Nov. 16, saying the agency has been uncooperative in providing information he requested on clinical trial fraud involving sanofi-aventis' antibiotic Ketek (telithromycin).

Allowing von Eschenbach to be confirmed when he has refused to comply with the senator's requests "doesn't help congressional oversight efforts," the spokeswoman said. It is "discouraging" that von Eschenbach has not made more of an effort to have transparency. This dispute is "a huge line in the sand" over whether the agency will cooperate with congressional oversight in the future, she added.