For over twenty years, I have been reporting on the conflicts of interest within the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). With the appointment of Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. to head Health and Human Services (HHS) by a new President of the United States (POTUS), my hope is that the FDA is exposed for what borders on criminal behavior.
Below are links to a few published articles I have written regarding heads of the FDA who have jumped ship after years of service to work in the private sector assisting pharma in becoming more financially lucrative. and maneuver through FDA approvals. Some FDA heads have even worked in their own consulting firms while employed by the FDA.
Here is a sampling of FDA heads who may need to be held accountable for their actions:
Bob Rappaport, MD, Director of Division of Anesthesia, Analgesia and Addiction Products retired in 2014.
What is most disturbing to me is the fact that Dr. Rappaport founded his own company called “Analgesic Concepts LLC” while employed by the FDA and as he was approving dangerous opioids such as Zohydro.
The information for Analgesic Concepts LLC is shown here:
Company Name: ANALGESIC CONCEPTS LLC
File Number: S530388-0
Filing State: Virginia (VA)
Filing Status: 00 Active
Filing Date: October 31, 2014
Company Age: 1 Year 7 Months
Registered Agent: Bob A. Rappaport
3219 N. Glebe Rd.
Arlington, VA 22207-0000
Principal Address: 3219 N. Glebe Rd.
Arlington, VA 22207-0000
Even though Rappaport did not file his company as an LLC until a month following his retirement from the FDA, Analgesic Concepts LLC was in existence for one year and seven months — while he was employed by the FDA, being paid by the FDA and approving dangerous opioids for the FDA. Here is a link to my published article on Rappaport and his conflict of interest:
It’s Time for Impunity to End with the FDA: PART 2 – Salem-News.Com
Douglas Throckmorton, MD, Deputy Director for Regulatory Programs – Center for Drug Evaluation and Research (CDER)
“Douglas Throckmorton, MD, Deputy Director of FDA – I expect an apology! I participated in a “stakeholders” teleconference with Dr. Throckmorton to discuss the “FDA’s strongest box warning on opioids”. Or, did I?” Douglas Throckmorton, MD, Deputy Director of FDA – I expect an apology! | GlobalNewsCentre.com
Janet Woodcock, MD
Acting Commissioner of the FDA
On January 27, 2021, a coalition of 28 public health groups and opioid crisis organizations sent a letter to the Biden Administration regarding Woodcock’s position as Acting Commissioner of the FDA. The letter said in part that “as the Director of the FDA’s Center for Drug Evaluation and Research (CDER) for more than 25 years, Dr. Woodcock presided over one of the worst regulatory agency failures in U.S. history.” Examples of improper opioid decisions mentioned in the letter include “approving Opana without adequate evidence of safety or long-term efficacy, approving Zohydro despite a vote of 11-2 against approval by a scientific advisory committee.
Margaret Hamburg, MD
Former Commissioner of FDA
Is the FDA Involved in Criminal Activity with Insider Trading?
FDA Commissioner Hamburg and Connecticut’s Governor Malloy Play Tug-of-War with Conflict of Interest – Salem-News.Com
Sharon Hertz, MD
Ellen Fields, MD
Why are FDA division heads allowed to approve dangerous opioids killing and addicting in the hundreds of thousands and then start their own consulting businesses? Two long-term heads of the FDA in the Division of Anesthesiology, Addiction Medicine, and Pain Medicine terminated their employment with the FDA to start their own consulting business promoting their availability to successfully and efficiently bring pharmaceutical products to market utilizing their FDA expertise.
There is no website for the Hertz and Fields consulting team. Strange? Problematic Employment Move for FDA Heads – Salem-News.Com
Curtis Wright, MD
Dr. Wright was involved in the review and approval of OxyContin, an opioid manufactured and marketed criminally by Purdue Pharma headquartered in Stamford, Connecticut.
After OxyContin’s approval by the FDA, Dr. Curtis subsequently went to work for Purdue Pharma — violating FDA protocol, although no action was ever taken against Wright by the FDA. Is the FDA Really the Watchdog of the American People or Foxes in the Hen House? – The Washington Standard
Scott Gottlieb, MD
Former FDA Commissioner
Under the tenure of Dr. Gottlieb, an opioid 1,000 times more powerful than morphine and 5 to 10 times stronger than fentanyl was approved. It is a dissolvable sufentanil also known as Dsuvia. This approval was given during an ever-raging opioid crisis in every town and city in the country.
Raeford Brown, MD, as Chairman of the FDA Drug Safety Advisory Committee reviewed the safety and need for the dangerous opioid and warned it would be abused and fuel overdose deaths as well as be diverted to the black market. Dr. Gottlieb overrode Dr. Brown’s warning and sufentanil or Dsuvia was approved. Dr. Brown was quoted as saying the FDA “is having a direct impact on the mortality rate from opioids in this country by continuing to approve new high-risk drugs.”
Hopefully, all of the above questionable actions of FDA heads will pique the interest of Mr. Kennedy and launch investigations preventing further abuse by the FDA bordering on criminal activities.
