Senate confirms MD Anderson’s Hahn as new FDA leader
Dr. Stephen Hahn, a top official at MD Anderson Cancer Center, was confirmed Thursday as the next commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration, currently under pressure to rein in youth vaping associated with an epidemic of lung disease.
The Senate voted 72-18 to confirm Hahn, a radiation oncologist and MD Anderson’s chief medical executive, the cancer center’s lead clinical officer. A longtime Republican donor with no previous policy experience, he was nominated for the job Nov. 1 by President Donald Trump.
“Dr. Hahn said to me that he doesn’t want to be known in history as the head of the FDA who saw this epidemic grow dramatically when it comes to vaping by young people,” Sen. Dick Durbin D-Ill., a longtime critic of the tobacco and vaping industries, said in a statement the day before the vote. “I’m going to give him my vote, and I do it with the hope that he will have a persuasive voice with the Trump administration to move in the right direction.”
Hahn’s sidestepping of questions about the regulation of ecigarettes made for a contentious confirmation hearing in November and was followed by statements of opposition by some top Democrats. Hahn would say only that he planned to follow the “science and evidence.”
Hahn picked up significant support — more than 40 patient and research advocacy organizations recently endorsed his nomination, according to online publication StatNews — but the opposition in the Senate compared unfavorably to the most recent Democratic nominees for the job. Dr. Robert Califf was confirmed 89-4, and Dr. Margaret Hamburg was confirmed unanimously.
Regulating e-cigarettes has become an urgent issue because the death toll from lung disease associated with vaping is now 52 and the number of hospitalizations is 2,409. Though the median age of the people who died is in the 50s, most who suffer lung damage are younger — half are in their teens or early 20s.
There have been 216 cases and one death in Texas.
Hahn, 59, will oversee a sprawling agency whose other big issues include the opioids crisis, cigarettes’ nicotine levels, the cost of prescription drugs and declines in life expectancy. The agency has regulatory authority over stem cell clinics, prescription drugs, medical devices, food safety, vitamin supplements and cosmetics.
Hahn did not respond to a Houston Chronicle request for comment. He has not commented throughout the process.
In a tweet Thursday, MD Anderson President Dr. Peter Pisters called Hahn’s confirmation “a tremendous honor” for MD Anderson and said his “passion for patient health and innovation will be a true benefit to the nation.
U.S. John Cornyn, a Texas Republican, also weighed in, issuing a statement calling Hahn “a multitalented physician who not only oversees patient care for a worldrenowned cancer center but also actively practices medicine and mentors others.”
“I’m grateful to my colleagues for supporting this outstanding nominee,” Cornyn’s statement said, “and I look forward to seeing the positive impact he has on the FDA.”
Hahn joined MD Anderson as head of radiation oncology in 2015 and became chief operating officer two years later. He became MD Anderson’s lead clinical officer last year as part of a restructuring under Pisters.
As COO, he drew attention to MD Anderson financial losses that led to the layoffs of 800 employees, then helped restore morale and steer the institution back on more stable financial ground after the ouster of then-President Dr. Ronald DePinho.
Hahn will succeed Scott Gottlieb, who stepped down in April. Brett Giroir, former CEO of the Texas A&M University Health Science Center and current assistant secretary of the U.S. Health and Human Services Department, is currently filling the job on an interim basis.