The Nominee for FDA Chief Wants to ‘Go Fast.’ Peptides Can Speed Biologic Competition

Washington rarely hears a nominee to lead a regulatory agency say that the agency is the problem. Dr. Heidi Overton, President Trump’s pick for Food and Drug Administration commissioner, said exactly that at her Senate confirmation hearing on September 24: “Slow and prohibitive requirements for cutting edge therapies at the FDA means investment is increasingly flowing to China.”

She promised to make the FDA “the agency of the possible rather than the impossible,” to use “all of the statutory authority we can” to speed treatments for rare diseases, and to “make sure every aspect of clinical trials and drug development is optimized.”