Ex-FDA chief Crawford moves into private-sector lobbying role:
This article was originally published in Clinica
Executive Summary
Former FDA commissioner Dr Lester Crawford has joined the Washington DC-based lobbying firm Policy Directions as senior counsel. Dr Crawford mysteriously resigned from his post in September only three months after Senate confirmation. He was embroiled in a controversy over whether he had politicised the agency for overruling staff and outside advisors by indefinitely postponing a decision on whether to grant Barr Laboratories' emergency contraceptive Plan B product OTC status. His sudden departure is still under investigation by the Health and Human Services department's inspector general. Policy Directions represents several food, drug and device clients, including Bausch & Lomb, Baxter Healthcare, Bayer Diagnostics, Genzyme, and Visx. To read more about lobbying, see www.healthcarelobbyist.com.