Presidential hopeful Sen. Elizabeth Warren has added her voice to the chorus of critics that have slammed former FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb for joining the board of Pfizer three months after leaving the agency.
In a letter addressed to Gottlieb, Warren implored him to resign from board of the Big Pharma company, writing “this kind of revolving door influence-peddling smacks of corruption.”
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“Scott’s expertise in health care, public policy and the industry will be an asset to our company and enable our shareholders to continue to benefit from a Board representing a balance of experience, competencies and perspectives,” Pfizer Executive Chairman Ian Read said in a statement about Gottlieb’s appointment.
Last year, Pfizer board members were paid $335,000 in cash and stock compensation.
Warren pointed to issues of shared priority during Gottlieb’s tenure at the FDA including boosting oversight of antibiotic use in animals and fighting the opioid epidemic. Warren also praised Gottlieb’s work in helping to reduce youth tobacco use and increase transparency at the agency.
“But now, you will be on the board of a company that has billions of dollars at stake in the decisions made by the agency you used to head and the employees you used to lead,” she wrote.
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While I was at FDA, I had a productive relationship with Senator Warren, working together to advance shared public health goals. I respect the Senator, and I will respond to her letter that I received today from reporters promptly, directly, and privately.
— Scott Gottlieb, MD (@ScottGottliebMD) July 2, 2019
In the letter, Warren also mentioned former White House Chief of Staff and DHS Secretary John Kelly, who joined the board of government contractor Caliburn International, which runs the Homestead Temporary Shelter for Unaccompanied Children, the country’s only for-profit child detention center for migrants.
Gottlieb took the board position at the drug company in addition to returning to his previous roles prior to his time at the FDA, serving as a resident fellow at conservative think tank the American Enterprise Institute and a Special Partner at VC firm New Enterprise Associates.
For his part, Gottlieb responded to criticism of his decision to join Pfizer in a CNBC interview, saying his current private sectors activities are largely in line with what he was doing before joining FDA.
“I made no bones about the fact that I had expertise in life sciences and I made my living trying to promote innovation in this sector prior to coming to the agency.”
In the same interview, Gottlieb also responded to the growing momentum for a socialized health system like Medicare-for-all, which has been supported by nearly all Democratic presidential candidates, including Warren. He said a total single payer system was unfeasible and a more likely option would be a Medicare buy-in program.
“I have a lot of concerns that Medicare-for-all would crowd out competition in private insurance and crowd out the kind of competition that puts downward pressure not just on the prices of drugs, but also on the prices of healthcare services,” Gottlieb said.
Picture: Drew Angerer, Getty Images