Biden Picks Former FDA Head to Help Lead Covid Vaccine, Drug Effort

(Bloomberg) -- David Kessler, a former head of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, is President-elect Joe Biden’s choice to help lead efforts to develop and distribute Covid-19 drugs and vaccines.

Kessler, who serves as a co-chair of the Covid-19 task force for Biden, will be chief science officer of the pandemic response program, according to an emailed statement from Biden’s transition team. He’ll replace Moncef Slaoui, a scientist and former executive at British drug giant GlaxoSmithKline Plc.

Biden is turning to Kessler, who headed the FDA in the 1990s, as Operation Warp Speed faces tough challenges. After vaccines were developed and authorized in record time, state-by-state rollouts have been plagued by slow and spotty distribution.

“We are in a race against time, and we need a comprehensive strategy to quickly contain this virus,” Biden said in the statement. “The individuals announced today will bolster the White House’s Covid-19 response team and play important roles in carrying out our rescue plan and vaccination program.”

Other appointees announced today include Andy Slavitt, who will serve as a senior adviser on Covid response. Slavitt was acting administrator for the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services in former President Barack Obama’s administration, and a defender of the Affordable Care Act. Amy Chang, who worked in the Department of Health and Human Services under Obama, will be a policy adviser to the effort. Abbe Gluck, a Yale University law and medicine professor, will be special counsel, according to the statement.

Ben Wakana, former executive director of Patients For Affordable Drugs and a member of the transition team, will be deputy director of strategic communications and engagement for the response. Vidur Sharma, a former Obama health policy adviser, will be policy adviser for testing.

Gustave Perna will remain as the program’s chief operations officer, according to a person familiar with the plans.

Kessler led the FDA during some of the early years of the HIV epidemic, when drug regimes were developed that eventually helped turn the lethal infection into a chronic, treatable condition. Biden is considering Janet Woodcock, a 30-year veteran of the agency, for the FDA role, Bloomberg reported Thursday, citing people familiar with the selection process.

A professor of pediatrics and epidemiology and biostatistics at the University of California, San Francisco, Kessler has also served as dean of the medical schools at Yale and UCSF, according to the statement.

(Updates with additional appointees from fifth paragraph.)