Janet Wood­cock is in the run­ning for FDA com­mis­sion­er — what does that mean for the agen­cy's fu­ture?

Just a day af­ter re­ports emerged that Janet Wood­cock will serve as in­ter­im chief of the FDA, word has got­ten out that she is al­so in the run­ning for the per­ma­nent job.

The de­ci­sion, as the ini­tial wave of re­ac­tions sug­gest, could have dra­mat­ic im­pli­ca­tions for where the agency is head­ed in the next four years — if not be­yond.

Wood­cock, the long­time CDER di­rec­tor, is be­ing vet­ted along­side for­mer FDA prin­ci­pal deputy com­mis­sion­er Joshua Sharf­stein, Bloomberg re­port­ed. Al­ready tapped as act­ing head of the agency, she’s set to take over from Stephen Hahn right af­ter Biden’s in­au­gu­ra­tion next week.

Unlock this article instantly by becoming a free subscriber.

You’ll get access to free articles each month, plus you can customize what newsletters get delivered to your inbox each week, including breaking news.

SIGN UP LOG IN BECOME A PREMIUM SUBSCRIBER