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F.D.A. Nominee Deflects Criticism About Ties to Drugmakers at Hearing

The New York Times: WASHINGTON — Dr. Scott Gottlieb, President Trump’s nominee to lead the Food and Drug Administration, told Congress on Wednesday that he could speed the approval of new drugs without compromising safety or increasing risks, deflecting questions about his past writings, drug-company investments and Mr. Trump’s controversial positions.

“We should reject a false dichotomy that it all boils down to a choice between speed and safety,” Dr. Gottlieb said at his confirmation hearing before the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee.

Democrats tried to focus Dr. Gottlieb’s confirmation hearing as much on the president who chose him as on the nominee himself. Mr. Trump has broken with Republican orthodoxy by embracing a Democratic push to allow the importation of prescription drugs from Canada and to allow the government to negotiate lower drug prices. Mr. Trump has also flouted established science with his efforts to link childhood vaccines to autism.

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