STAT+: Nominee to lead FDA aims to speed up medical research, combat China’s rise

Heidi Overton, President Trump’s nominee to lead the FDA, plans to use her opening statement at Thursday’s hearing before a key Senate committee to emphasize that the agency needs speed and efficiency to compete with China’s accelerating biotechnology industry.

Overton says Trump’s direction for her, if confirmed, is to “go fast.” She argues that slow and prohibitive requirements at the FDA for cutting-edge therapies are driving investment increasingly to China, which has found ways to do things faster and cheaper.

She says she is committed to continuing the administration’s work begun earlier this year to speed up the clinical trial process through Operation Trialblazer. She also says she will work with the FDA’s career professionals to ensure every aspect of clinical trials and drug development is optimized to get cures to patients faster and that every person at the agency shares those goals.