President Biden is looking for the next head of the Food and Drug Administration.

The FDA, of course, is the federal agency that is supposed to make sure the food we eat is safe and the medicines we take are safe and effective.

And apparently Biden’s short list for the job includes a former Big Pharma executive, Michelle McMurry-Heath, who now runs the world’s largest trade association of biotech companies.

Allow us to point out the obvious:

Running a Big Pharma trade association is automatically disqualifying for the position of FDA commissioner.

• As head of the industry group, McMurry-Heath has opposed Biden administration proposals to lower drug prices and supported many other positions contrary to the public interest.

• Why in the world would such a person be considered to lead the nation’s guardian of safe food and medicines?

• Making matters worse, the FDA is in crisis — precisely because it has been too industry-friendly in crucial decisions, from approving Alzheimer’s treatments that have not been proven to work to greenlighting opioids without regard to the foreseeable public health consequences.

Please join us in sending this clear message to President Biden:

The American people deserve an FDA Commissioner who will reverse a decades-long trend that has seen the agency get cozier and cozier with the pharmaceutical and medical-device industries. The next FDA Commissioner must be someone with no Big Pharma conflicts who has been dedicated to advancing public health and will put the public interest ahead of the interests of FDA-regulated industries.

Add your name now.

Thanks for taking action.

For progress,

- Robert Weissman, President of Public Citizen
 
 
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