WASHINGTON — The Food and Drug Administration is undaunted by the fact that many of its top staff are nearing retirement age and the agency has a plan to continue to buttress its ranks, both among the leadership and rank-and-file, Commissioner Scott Gottlieb said Friday.
“It is the case that about 50 percent of all the people in senior roles in [the Center for Drug Evaluation and Research] right now are nearing retirement age, where they can retire with benefits,” Gottlieb said. “We’ve been aware of that. We’ve been planning for it.”
At the end of April, two more FDA directors departed from the agency, leaving three of the nineteen drug review divisions without permanent leaders. The Office of New Drugs, which oversees all of those divisions, also lacks a permanent head.
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