Margaret Hamburg isn’t so sure about this 'acting FDA commissioner' business

The person currently running the FDA is doing so on an "acting" basis. And that, according to a person who used to run the FDA, is not exactly ideal.

“It is important to have leadership that is officially in place and can make hard decisions,” said former FDA Commissioner Margaret Hamburg. “If you’re in limbo, that can be hard.”

Hamburg, speaking during a fireside chat with former Editas CEO Katrine Bosley at BIO’s annual convention in Philadelphia, said she wasn’t worried about the effect of the turnovers on staff.

“For better or for worse, the FDA is used to transitions,” she said, adding that “the professional staff at FDA is very professional and very sophisticated and very resilient.”

But she did throw a little shade at her relatively short-lived successors.

“I have joked that these men just don’t seem to have any staying power,” she said. (“That may need to be taken into consideration for our next leadership,” Bosley joked.)