NCI Director And Former Dx Start-Up Founder Sharpless Will Helm FDA

12 Mar 2019

• By Sue Darcey

After a week of speculation as to who will succeed US FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb when he steps down next month, Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar announced during a congressional hearing that National Cancer Institute Director Ned Sharpless will step in as acting commissioner. One note of medtech interest in Sharpless' bio: he was a co-founder of a diagnostics company.

Norman “Ned” Sharpless, director of the National Cancer Institute, will lead US FDA as its acting commissioner when current agency head Scott Gottlieb steps down next month. The incoming acting commissioner is a veteran translational cancer researcher, inventor and executive with experience founding start-ups including a diagnostics company.

Sharpless, an oncologist, researcher and administrator who has served as the head of NCI for about 18 months, has been...