Ex-FDA director Gottlieb joins Pfizer

Scott Gottlieb, the former Food and Drug Administration commissioner who left the agency earlier this year, is joining the board of directors of pharmaceutical giant Pfizer, the company announced Friday.

Ian Read, the company’s executive chairman and former chief executive, said Gottlieb’s “expertise in health care, public policy and the industry will be an asset to our company.” Gottlieb, in a statement, said Pfizer’s broad portfolio and global presence give the company “the ability to have a deep and positive public health impact and I feel privileged” to be a part of the effort.

Critics immediately decried the move as the latest example of the “revolving door” in Washington between federal regulators and the businesses they oversee.

“Such moves harm the reputation of the FDA,” said Leigh Turner, a bioethicist at the University of Minnesota, in a tweet. “Today’s news reinforces concerns that there is too cozy a relationship between the FDA and the companies it is supposed to regulate.”

During his tenure as commissioner, Gottlieb pressed for speedier generic-drug approvals, encouraged new types of clinical trials and pushed for greater use of biosimilar medications to lower drug costs. He also emerged as an outspoken critic of teen vaping.

The vast majority of former FDA commissioners join the boards of drug or health care companies at some point after leaving the agency, according to Walid Gellad, an associate professor of medicine at the University of Pittsburgh.