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U.S. Senate confirms FDA chief

Xinhua, May 10, 2017 Adjust font size:

U.S. Senate on Tuesday confirmed Scott Gottlieb as the new chief of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

Gottlieb, who has served as the FDA director under former U.S. President George W. Bush, has returned to his old post after a 57-42 vote in the upper chamber of the Congress.

"As a practicing physician with a wealth of policy experience, Dr.Gottlieb has the necessary qualifications to lead the FDA at this critical time," Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said from the Senate floor.

Despite strong backing from the GOP, Democrats said Gottlieb's ties to the industry he's set to oversee may fringe his judgements.

Gottlieb has reportedly invested in or consulted for dozens of healthcare companies since leaving the FDA.

"We need FDA to be a tough cop on the beat, not a rubber stamp approving the latest big pharma painkillers," said Edward Markey, a Democratic senator from Massachusetts while debating on the Senate floor.

Gottlieb's confirmation came as a new study revealed one in three drugs approved by the FDA has a new safety issue detected in the years after the approval, suggesting the necessity for the FDA to step up measures of testing drugs for safety. Endi