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Scott Gottlieb walks through the revolving door to the Pfizer board
The revolving door turns again. After a two-year stint running the Food and Drug Administration, Scott Gottlieb has joined the board of directors at Pfizer, giving the world's largest drug maker crucial insights into the inner workings of the Trump administration as it attempts to contain national angst over the rising cost of medicines.
And in doing so, Gottlieb is also picking up where he left before joining the agency, since he had been on the board of several smaller pharmaceutical companies and was also a partner at a venture capital firm that invests in life sciences companies.
"This is classic and it's not surprising," said Sidney Wolfe, a founder of Public Citizen Health Research Group and a long-time FDA watchdog, who had expressed concern about Gottlieb's ties to industry before joining the agency. "Philosophically, he's returning to the ecosystem where he's most comfortable. And he'll get paid very well for it, too."
Also at Financial Times.
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(Score: 5, Insightful) by bradley13 on Friday June 28 2019, @10:54AM (4 children)
Yep, back in the day (military procurement) I saw this all the time. General officer today, corporate executive tomorrow, government SES the day after, and the day after that back to industry. It also happens at lower levels, all the time.
On the one hand, it's understandable: you're in an industry you understand, you're ready to move up, and this usually involves changing jobs. OTOH, you're interviewing for that next job while working on contracts with the organization you're negotiating with. The purest intentions in the world cannot prevent the appearance of impropriety. And most people do not have the purest intentions.
The government really needs to put a simple non-compete clause into place: If you work for the government, you may not work in an industry role with any company your dealt with, or had influence over, for at least x years afterwards. And once hired, you cannot work with your ex-company, or have influence over their contracts, for the same kind of period. At the top levels, as in TFA, this amounts to an industry-wide prohibition.
Everyone is somebody else's weirdo.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday June 28 2019, @12:58PM
Did he have stiff competition for the position?
(Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Friday June 28 2019, @02:10PM (1 child)
This is crony corporatism, it has nothing to do with capitalism. It isn't hard to figure out. Follow this simple rule: Is the government heavily involved in the situation? Not capitalism.
But you aren't meant to understand how the world actually works so it is easier to scam you.
(Score: 2) by dry on Saturday June 29 2019, @06:09AM
It's people, in the form of corporations, using their capital to generate more capital, which is what capitalism is all about. Capitalism rewards efficiency, and it is more efficient to subvert the government then to make better products.
Don't confuse a free market with capitalism as they're at odds.
(Score: 2) by DeathMonkey on Friday June 28 2019, @05:16PM
Especially if you work at a regulatory agency!
(Score: 5, Funny) by DeathMonkey on Friday June 28 2019, @05:21PM
Wow, a Trump appointee who isn't resigning in disgrace due to illegal or unethical behavior.
I guess there's a first time for everything!
(Score: 3, Interesting) by edIII on Friday June 28 2019, @07:54PM (6 children)
I've been saying this for a long time. If you're going to FORCE injections on US Citizens then we have the MOTHER FUCKING RIGHT to go after those hell bound sons of bitches when something goes wrong.
Yet we don't have the right, or the power. The only right we have is to become a statistic that some execufuck gets to weigh against profits. The FDA is bought and paid for, and Big Pharma is TOO-BIG-TO-FACE-CONSEQUENCES. There are no regulations or protections for US Citizens and we're constantly the victims of Big Pharma's avarice.
So in the light of this rather transparent corruption, good people are supposed to just have blind trust in these people running the show? The science is absolutely solid, the products absolutely safe?
People like this jackass need to be in prison.
Technically, lunchtime is at any moment. It's just a wave function.
(Score: 2) by DeathMonkey on Friday June 28 2019, @10:08PM (5 children)
You are aware that we don't force injections in the US, right? (asking for clarity's sake, it's hard to tell these days)
When people refer to immunization requirements and exemptions they're talking about school requirements. If you want to put your kid in with all the other kids then you need to follow the safety rules. If you don't want to do that feel free to homeschool.
(Score: 2) by DeathMonkey on Friday June 28 2019, @10:12PM
* And certain jobs that have specific disease risk factors.
(Score: 2) by edIII on Friday June 28 2019, @10:35PM (3 children)
My understanding is that the changing laws are requiring just that.
Technically, lunchtime is at any moment. It's just a wave function.
(Score: 2) by DeathMonkey on Friday June 28 2019, @10:55PM (2 children)
I'm pretty sure that is not the case.
Perhaps you have a reference to the law in question?
(Score: 2) by edIII on Friday June 28 2019, @11:09PM (1 child)
New York and Seattle I believe are two cities dealing with communities impacted by the measles, and have started taking steps removing all the exceptions. My understanding was this didn't just apply to school children, but anybody wishing to remain within city limits.
Technically, lunchtime is at any moment. It's just a wave function.
(Score: 2) by DeathMonkey on Friday June 28 2019, @11:17PM
Maybe these are the stories you're referring to?
Washington state limits exemptions for measles vaccine; new law takes effect in July [seattletimes.com]
Amid measles outbreak, New York ends religious exemptions for vaccines [cnn.com]
But again, they're just to be admitted into schools and daycares.
(Score: 1) by ChrisMaple on Saturday June 29 2019, @04:45AM
The FDA is routinely corrupt and so are the pharmaceutical manufacturers. The FDA has a long history of bad decisions, allowing bad drugs, forbidding good drugs, and arresting supplement manufacturers while violating their first amendment rights.
The FDA should be disbanded. The only valid function of the government with regard to drugs is testing for purity and strength. Ex-FDA employees should have a lifetime prohibition of working in the industry.