When are we going to get a new FDA commissioner?

On Friday, Dr. Ned Sharpless, the man who currently runs the FDA, will see his term as acting commissioner expire. And as of this second, President Trump has not chosen a nominee to succeed him.

For nearly two months we’ve known that Dr. Stephen Hahn, chief medical executive at the MD Anderson Cancer Center, was going to be Trump’s pick. And for weeks, we’ve heard that Hahn’s nomination would coming any day now. But then it never arrived.

There is, as has been true for nearly three years, a lot going on in the White House at the moment. But the delay to Hahn’s expected nomination means a delay to the months-long confirmation process and leaves the FDA in a prolonged state of long-term leadership limbo, dating back to Dr. Scott Gottlieb’s resignation in April.