Andrew von Eschenbach
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In office
December 13, 2006 ? January 20, 2009
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President
| George W. Bush
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Preceded by
| Lester Mills Crawford
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Succeeded by
| Margaret A. Hamburg
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In office
January 22, 2002 ? June 10, 2006
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President
| George W. Bush
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Preceded by
| Richard D. Klausner
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Succeeded by
| John E. Niederhuber
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Born
| (
1941-10-30
)
October 30, 1941
(age 82)
Philadelphia
, Pennsylvania, U.S.
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Spouse
| Madelyn von Eschenbach
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Children
| Andrew von Eschenbach, Amanda von Eschenbach, Warren von Eschenbach, Christian von Eschenbach
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Alma mater
| St. Joseph's University,
Georgetown University School of Medicine
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Andrew C. von Eschenbach
(born October 30, 1941) was the
Commissioner
of the
United States
Food and Drug Administration
from 2006 to 2009. He became acting Commissioner on September 26, 2005, after the resignation of his predecessor
Lester Crawford
, and was confirmed as Commissioner by the
Senate
on December 7, 2006.
[1]
[2]
He was previously the 12th director of the
National Cancer Institute
.
Von Eschenbach currently serves on the
board of directors
of
BioTime
, a
biotechnology
company helmed by CEO
Michael D. West
.
[3]
He also serves as a director of Viamet Pharmaceuticals.
[4]
Biography
[
edit
]
After graduating from
St. Joseph's Preparatory School
, von Eschenbach received his bachelor of science in biology from
St. Joseph's University
in 1963 and his MD from
Georgetown University School of Medicine
in 1967.
He did residencies at
Pennsylvania Hospital
in general surgery and
urology
and taught urology at the
University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine
.
He served in the US
Navy Medical Corps
with the rank of
lieutenant commander
from 1968 to 1971.
In 1976, von Eschenbach began his long association with
The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center
, beginning as a urologic oncology fellow, and becoming chair of the department of urology in 1983. He was founding director of the
Prostate Cancer
Research Program in 1996, director of the
Genitourinary
Cancer Center, and held the Roy M. and Phyllis Gough Huffington Clinical Research Distinguished Chair in Urologic Oncology. Driven by his father's
prostate cancer
, he specialized in the disease.
Von Eschenbach was president-elect of the
American Cancer Society
when he was selected by President
George W. Bush
to head the NCI in December 2001. As director of the NCI he announced in 2003 that his organization's goal was to "eliminate suffering and death" caused by cancer by the year 2015. However, under von Eschenbach's leadership the FDA has been criticized for being too risk averse when considering life saving treatments for desperate, dying patients. For example, in 2007 the FDA failed to approve
Provenge
for the treatment of late stage prostate cancer against the recommendation of an independent advisory committee.
[
citation needed
]
Von Eschenbach was criticized for overruling his staff recommendations, and approving the Menaflex knee implant, made by ReGen Biologics Inc., New Jersey, on a fast-track basis, after four New Jersey congressmen lobbied on ReGen's behalf. Von Eschenbach said, "We fumbled that process."
[5]
In 2006,
Time
named him as one of the Time 100 "People Who Shape Our World", writing that as head of the FDA, which "wields enormous influence on American lives", von Eschenbach "could make a signal contribution to the public's health" by focusing on issues of diet and obesity in addition to drugs and disease.
On August 1, 2006, Senators
Clinton
and
Cantwell
announced they would block his nomination to be the permanent FDA commissioner because of his department's failure to act on the application by
Barr Pharmaceuticals
to sell Plan B
over-the-counter
. They ultimately voted for his nomination.
[2]
Eschenbach left the FDA in 2009 to join Greenleaf Health, which counsels pharmaceutical clients, before starting his own consulting company, Samaritan Health Initiatives.
[6]
Andrew von Eschenbach was instrumental in the development and growth of the Prostate Cancer Foundation (founded by
Michael Milken
) since its inception in 1993 and held a board membership position and scientific advisor role at the foundation. C-Change, a forum that brings together the principal leaders of key national cancer organizations, and founded by Andrew von Eschenbach, is in partnership with the Prostate Cancer Foundation.
References
[
edit
]
- ^
U.S. Congress (7 December 2006).
"Executive Session"
.
Congressional Record
.
152
(134): S11404?29, S11447?51
. Retrieved
2006-12-12
.
- ^
a
b
Senate Vote No. 274
- ^
"BioTime, Inc. Appoints Andrew C. von Eschenbach, M.D. to its Board of Directors"
.
BusinessWire Press Release
. November 9, 2011.
- ^
Viamet Pharmaceuticals web site
, archived from
the original
on 2014-06-20
- ^
Political Lobbying Drove FDA Process
, by Alicia Mundy, Wall Street Journal, March 6, 2009
- ^
Nonprofit Working To Block Drug Imports Has Ties To Pharma Lobby
, by Emily Kopp & Rachel Bluth for NPR and Kaiser Health News, April 18, 2017
- "Andrew von Eschenbach." Biography Resource Center Online. Gale, 2006.
External links
[
edit
]
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