ScienceInsider

Two of the most likely candidates to take over the beleagered U.S. Food and Drug Administration have been vociferous critics of the agency. The Wall Street Journal says Steven Nissen and Joshua Sharfstein are top candidates to run the FDA.

Nissen has frequently and publicly attacked FDA’s handling of drug safety from his perch as head of cardiovascular medicine at the Cleveland Clinic, particularly when it comes to painkillers like Vioxx, which was yanked from the market in 2004 after it was linked to heart attacks. A cardiologist who speaks his mind --even to reporters – he’s often nabbed the spotlight with his sharp words while serving on FDA advisory committees, and was described last year as a “Naderesque figure and the nation’s unofficial arbiter of drug safety.” While Nissen himself doesn’t take money from drug companies, he oversees many others at the Cleveland Clinic who work closely with the pharmaceutical industry on clinical trials.

Sharfstein’s a physician who heads Baltimore’s Health Department.

—Jennifer Couzin