Sens. Murray and Clinton will delay Bush's FDA pick

WASHINGTON – President Bush nominated Andrew von Eschenbach as commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration – and U.S. Sens. Patty Murray, D-Wash., and Hillary Rodham Clinton, D-N.Y., immediately vowed to delay his confirmation until the FDA decides whether the Plan B contraceptive can be sold over the counter.

Von Eschenbach has run the agency on a temporary basis since last September.

Murray and Clinton said they would place a hold on von Eschenbach's nomination until the FDA decides whether to allow over-the-counter sales of Plan B pills. They now are sold only by prescription.

As in this case, the hold often is used not to defeat a nomination but to raise an issue important to those objecting. The Senate can overcome a hold through a time-consuming process and a motion requiring a 60-vote majority.

Health and Human Services Secretary Mike Leavitt promised senators last year that the FDA would decide whether to relax the sales restrictions on Plan B. Clinton and Murray then lifted their hold on Lester Crawford, allowing the Senate to approve his nomination to lead the FDA.

Crawford ended up postponing indefinitely any decision on Plan B. He resigned in September, just two months after his confirmation.

The agency's scientific staff has long concluded that the contraceptive is safe and effective for over-the-counter use by women and girls of all ages, according to internal memos recently released by Rep. Henry Waxman, D-Calif.

But senior FDA officials have delayed a decision. That has prompted some in the medical community, as well as Democrats such as Murray and Clinton, to charge that the agency compromised its scientific judgment under pressure from social conservatives influential in the Bush administration.

"We were rudely surprised when the FDA announced it would further study the decision, so we are putting everybody on notice that we are placing a hold on this nomination and will not lift it until we have a decision," Clinton said.

The administration has given no indication that it intends to resolve the Plan B controversy. In a statement, the FDA suggested that since von Eschenbach had not been involved with the issue, his nomination should be considered apart from the controversy.

Von Eschenbach, 64, director of the National Cancer Institute and a renowned prostate-cancer surgeon from Texas, has headed the FDA since last fall, when Crawford unexpectedly quit two months after his confirmation.

Von Eschenbach would become the third FDA commissioner under Bush, following Crawford and Mark McClellan, now the top Medicare and Medicaid official. Leavitt said von Eschenbach was an "inspired choice to provide permanent leadership at this critical agency."

Von Eschenbach intends to step down as director of the National Cancer Institute, which he has led since 2002, HHS spokeswoman Christina Pearson said.

His holding both jobs had raised questions of a possible conflict of interest.

Von Eschenbach was chief academic officer of the University of M.D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston before he left to take over the NCI. The Philadelphia native has survived three cancer diagnoses: melanoma, prostate cancer and basal cell carcinoma.

Sen. Mike Enzi, R-Wyo., chairman of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions committee, said he would hold confirmation hearing as quickly as possible.

"The FDA is at a crucial point in its history and needs a leader with the vision to cope with the many advances in genetics, pharmacology and related fields, which will test the agency's regulatory processes," Enzi said.

Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, D-Ma., said he expected the administration to have to address the Plan B issue "fair and square" before von Eschenbach could be confirmed.

House members, including Rep. Maurice Hinchey, D-N.Y., have raised concerns about the safety of prescription drugs such as the painkiller Vioxx and allegations of a too-cozy relationship between the FDA and the pharmaceutical industry.

Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, wrote Leavitt this week to stay that in the past few years "there has been an undeniable absence of strong leadership at the FDA."

The FDA oversees the regulation of medical devices and more than $1 trillion annually worth of food, drugs, cosmetics, animal feed and other products. They account for 25 cents of every dollar spent each year by people in the United States.