ARTICLE | Politics, Policy & Law

Character counts

Why Trump’s short lists for HHS, FDA, CMS heads are crucial to industry

Steve Usdin, Washington Editor

November 12, 2016 2:18 AM UTC

Traditionally, Senate Democrats have been extremely skeptical of FDA commissioner nominees who have worked for regulated industry, but it isn’t clear whether those standards would be applied in the administration of a billionaire president with undisclosed business interests around the globe.

Republican control of the Senate and House of Representatives is an unambiguous win for biopharma companies, but it is too early to judge what the election of Donald Trump as president will mean for an industry that rises or falls on the direct and indirect effects of government regulation and oversight.

The most accurate guideposts of the direction the executive branch will travel in coming years are the personnel decisions being formulated now. In particular, nominations for leaders of HHS, FDA, CMS, and NIH will provide the first real indicators of how the Trump administration will handle government activities that are critical for the success of life sciences companies. ...