End Substance Use Disorder Supports President Biden in Declining to Nominate Janet Woodcock for FDA Commissioner
Today, President Biden announced that he will not nominate interim FDA Commissioner Janet Woodcock to lead that agency for the remainder of his term. The announcement comes after Dr. Woodcock has been widely criticized for her role in introducing Oxycontin and other prescription opioids to the market - actions that are recognized as a key contributor to the nation’s overdose crisis. End Substance Use Disorder released the following statement:
"Our nation’s public health officials have a solemn responsibility to place the welfare of our loved ones before corporate profits,” said Erin Schanning, president of End Substance Use Disorder. “Acting Commissioner Woodcock failed to protect our nation from the scourge of the overdose crisis when she worked hand-in-hand with Purdue Pharma to approve Oxycontin for mass marketing and distribution. We applaud President Biden for choosing not to nominate Acting Commissioner Woodcock to permanently lead the FDA. We now look to the incoming nominee to ensure that there is no corporate influence in the agency’s decisionmaking.”
Dr. Woodcock oversaw the FDA’s Center for Drug Evaluation and Research for twenty years, which was responsible for approving new medications. In 1996, the FDA approved Oxycontin and allowed Purdue Pharma to market it as non-addictive without any firm basis in evidence. Despite growing evidence of the medication’s danger, the FDA continued to allow Oxycontin to be marketed and approved similar prescription opioids.
Many regard the FDA’s decision, which Dr. Woodcock helped spearhead, as one of the worse regulatory failures in history. Since the FDA’s approval of Oxycontin, drug overdoses have claimed the lives of over 900,000 Americans. Most over those overdose deaths involve opioids, including prescription pain medication like Oxycontin.
Dr. Woodcock was nominated as Acting Commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration earlier this year. In her place, President Biden has nominated Robert Califf.