Obama's FDA picks bring public health focus

President Barack Obama (L) speaks to reporters in the Oval Office in Washington, March 14, 2009.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama's choices to lead the Food and Drug Administration place an emphasis on public health and safety at an agency that has struggled with contaminated food and serious drug side effects.

Dr. Margaret Hamburg, named by Obama on Saturday to serve as FDA commissioner, served as New York City's health commissioner, where she was known for a program that sharply cut tuberculosis infection rates, and has experience on issues ranging from AIDS to reduction of biological threats.

Obama appointed Dr. Joshua Sharfstein, the current health commissioner in Baltimore, as Hamburg's principal deputy. Sharfstein made headlines for pushing the FDA in recent years to warn against use of over-the-counter cough and cold medicines in young children.

The two doctors won praise from public health experts, consumer groups and Democratic lawmakers who have criticized the FDA's handling of risky medicines and tainted food, including an ongoing outbreak of salmonella in peanut products that has killed up to nine people.

"Dr. Hamburg and Dr. Sharfstein will bring dynamic new leadership to an agency that sorely needs it and will return sound scientific judgment to the FDA," Senator Edward Kennedy, chairman of the chamber's Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, said in a statement.

Hamburg's appointment must be confirmed by the Senate.

Former Health and Human Services Secretary Donna Shalala called Hamburg "unflappable" and said she would shield the FDA from political interference while working to protect the public from dangerous products. Hamburg worked on health policy issues under Shalala in former president Bill Clinton's HHS.

"I think she starts out being concerned about safety -- the safety of pharmaceuticals, the safety of food. There's just no question in my mind, and that's exactly what we expect of the FDA commissioner," Shalala said in a telephone interview.

DELAYED APPROVALS

Drugmakers worry, however, that too much emphasis on safety keeps medicines from reaching patients.

The industry's main lobbying group welcomed Hamburg's nomination but had no comment on Sharfstein, who has done work for Democratic Rep. Henry Waxman, a strong critic of pharmaceutical companies.

Hamburg "brings managerial skills that are essential for directing science-based activities," said Billy Tauzin, head of the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America.

The FDA was accused in the past of being too close to drugmakers, which pay the agency hundreds of millions of dollars each year to help fund reviews of their products.

Criticism grew after Merck & Co's 2004 recall of arthritis drug Vioxx over a link to heart attacks and strokes.

Reports by outside experts found the FDA severely underfunded considering its enormous responsibilities overseeing prescription drugs, most foods, medical devices and other products that account for one-quarter of the U.S. economy.

Waxman, chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, said Hamburg and Sharfstein had "strong public health credentials and demonstrated management abilities. These appointments give me great hope for the future of the FDA."

(Editing by Maggie Fox and Philip Barbara)