Dr. Stephen Hahn, a cancer specialist, said to be Trump’s nominee for Commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration
ARLINGTON HEIGHTS, IL (November 5, 2019) – President Trump recently nominated Dr. Stephen Hahn of the Anderson Cancer Center in Houston to head the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA).
The Heartland Institute is encouraged that a cancer specialist is being considered for this significant position and is extremely supportive of an FDA that encourages American innovation.
Currently, it takes 12 years and $2.9 billion to bring a drug from lab to market. It is well past time FDA implement commonsense reforms to expedite the drug approval process.
The following statements from FDA reform experts at The Heartland Institute—a free-market think tank—may be used for attribution. For more comments, refer to the contact information below. To book a Heartland guest on your program, please contact Media Specialist Billy Aouste at [email protected].
“We would all benefit if the new commissioner gives top priority to modernizing the FDA regulatory process in order to deliver on the primary objective of better drugs, sooner, at lower cost. For more information, visit Heartland’s website: freetochoosemedicine.com“
Bartley J. Madden
Policy Advisor
The Heartland Institute
[email protected]
312-377-4000
Mr. Madden is the author of Free to Choose Medicine: Better Drugs Sooner at Lower Cost, a plan to save lives by reforming the drug-approval process in the United States.
“If confirmed, having an outsider and a cancer specialist leading FDA could potentially bring about a new innovative perspective to the federal bureaucracy. The FDA commissioner should advocate a patient first approach, focused on expediting approval of safe and effective drugs.”
Christina Herrin
Director, Free to Choose Medicine
The Heartland Institute
[email protected]
312/377-4000
“Dr. Stephen Hahn, the nominee for FDA chief, needs to appreciate that the overly strict regime established in 1962 to certify the safety and efficacy of proposed medications is woefully out of date, especially in an age in which exponential technology can radically transform medicine. Rather than shielding Americans from unsafe medications, the current FDA regime leaves tens of thousands of patients to suffer and die waiting years for drug manufacturers to jump through unnecessary hoops. Hahn should push for a full FDA reform.”
Edward Hudgins
Director of Research
The Heartland Institute
[email protected]
312/377-4000
Bartley J. Madden retired as a managing director of Credit Suisse HOLT after a career in investment research and money management that included the founding of Callard Madden & Associates.
Christina Herrin is a former state government relations manager at The Heartland Institute.
