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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!