A congressional hearing that will be held on Thursday to explore the controversial Right to Try laws is growing tense before the proceedings even get under way.
Among those expected to testify was Dr. Robert Califf, the US Food and Drug Administration commissioner, but scheduling conflicts apparently will prevent him from appearing as planned. But the chairman of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, which will hold the hearing, is upset about the agency official who is being sent to testify, instead.
As far as Senator Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) is concerned, Dr. Peter Lurie, an associate commissioner for public health strategy and analysis, is not qualified to substitute for Califf. After Lurie met with committee staff, Johnson expressed concern Lurie was “unable to answer questions” about Right to Try laws and a host of related issues, according to a letter that Johnson wrote to Califf this past Monday.
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Maybe Califf didn’t make the hearing cuz he was too busy writing his 12 page memo urging the Sarepta paper to be retracted. This guy is off to a BAD start. FDA commmish usually neither seen nor heard from at least this early on. Something tells me he ain’t long for this job.
Our scribe has summed it all up in the final paragraph which has nothing to do with the stated subject. I would say it’s all about lobbying except in my heart I know it’s all about the money. Oh, and how could the FDA challenge a physicians ‘off-label use’ when there is no label? Now getting Big (or even small) pharma to give something away and possibly skew their data is something else again.