Robert Califf (Pablo Martinez Monsivais, AP Images, File)

As buzz on Califf FDA nom heats up, in­dus­try and agency in­sid­ers of­fer a strong nod for the ‘per­fect’ choice

For once in this long, dra­mat­ic road to find­ing a new FDA com­mis­sion­er, there’s been some con­ti­nu­ity. Both CNN and Politi­co re­port­ed this week­end that Rob Califf met with Pres­i­dent Biden to dis­cuss the per­ma­nent com­mish role, fol­low­ing ear­li­er news bro­ken by the Wash­ing­ton Post that all signs point to Califf.

Al­though there may be a few De­moc­rats who con­tin­ue to grand­stand about the dan­gers of COI (Califf has worked for Ver­i­ly, sits on the board of Centes­sa Phar­ma­ceu­ti­cals, and has oth­er ties to in­dus­try re­search), with the pan­dem­ic on­go­ing and the need for some kind of con­ti­nu­ity at FDA mount­ing, Califf is like­ly to meet the same fate as when he first won Sen­ate con­fir­ma­tion in 2016, by a vote of 89-4 — Bernie Sanders and 6 oth­ers didn’t vote.

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