FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb Resigns

Gottlieb, whose wife and three children have remained in their Westport, Connecticut, home since he took office, said he was weary of the commute and missed his family.

Gottlieb had been subject to increasing pressure from some Republicans in Congress and his former associates in the conservative movement, for his tough stance against youth vaping and traditional cigarettes. A coalition of influential conservative groups recently asked the White House to block some of the key parts of the FDA’s strategy to prevent youths from vaping; and Republican Sen. Richard Burr of North Carolina blasted the commissioner on the Senate floor for his proposal to ban menthol cigarettes.

Gottlieb said these protests had no role in his departure.

“There’s no intrigue here,” he said, adding that he planned to advance the agency’s pending tobacco regulations before he leaves, in about one month.

A senior White House official said Gottlieb was not pressured to leave and that President Donald Trump was “very fond” of him.

Under Gottlieb’s leadership, the FDA approved a record number of generic medicines, new drugs and medical devices. The agency also waded into unusual territory for an FDA chief, calling for lower drug prices and often speaking about the opioid crisis.

This article originally appeared in The New York Times.