Citing wanting to spend more time with his family, Food and Drug Administration commissioner Scott Gottlieb announced his resignation this week. Broadly liked on both sides of the aisle and within the biopharma industry, Gottlieb, a former physician and cancer survivor, made teen tobacco use a major issue during his two-year tenure.
In addition to working on lowering drug prices and bringing generic drugs to the market faster, both priorities for the Trump administration, Gottlieb has been a fierce advocate for a number of other public health issues, focusing the FDA’s attention on combating the opioid epidemic, creating harsher regulations for dietary supplements, and even “preserving Michelle Obama’s sugars labeling.”
Gottlieb had previously worked as a venture capitalist and board member for pharmaceutical companies, and made millions from his work in that industry, which caused alarm on the left when his appointment was originally announced. However, the commissioner surprised critics by divesting his interest in drug companies and calling for stronger and updated regulations across health-related industries.
Given his penchant for being chatty on Twitter, we rounded up some of the reactions to Gottlieb’s resignation from Bill of Health’s friends and family.
W. Nicholson Price, University of Michigan Law School:
Hank Greely, Stanford Law School:
Nicolas Terry, Indiana University Robert H. McKinney School of Law:
I. Glenn Cohen, Harvard Law School:
Michelle Mello, Stanford Law School:
Rachel Sachs, Washington University School of Law:
Patti Zettler, Georgia State University:
