Volume 3

Interagency coordination in drug research and regulation : hearings before the Subcommittee on Reorganization and International Organizations of the Committee on Government Operations, United States Senate, Eighty-eighth Congress, first session. Agency coordination study, pursuant to S. Res. 27, 88th Cong. Review of cooperation on drug policies among Food and Drug Administration, National Institutes of Health, Veterans' Administration, and other agencies. Mar. 20-June 26, 1963.

United States. Congress. Senate. Committee on Government Operations

Date:: 1963

Credit: Interagency coordination in drug research and regulation : hearings before the Subcommittee on Reorganization and International Organizations of the Committee on Government Operations, United States Senate, Eighty-eighth Congress, first session. Agency coordination study, pursuant to S. Res. 27, 88th Cong. Review of cooperation on drug policies among Food and Drug Administration, National Institutes of Health, Veterans' Administration, and other agencies. Mar. 20-June 26, 1963. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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[From the Sunday Star, Washington, D.C., Jan. 6, 1963] May DEcLINES MEDICAL UNIT DIRECTORSHIP (By Miriam Ottenberg, Star Staff Writer) Dr. Charles D. May, whose appointment as Director of the Food and Drug Administration’s key Bureau of Medicine has been pending since last March, has withdrawn his name from consideration for the $20,000 post, it was learned yesterday. Dr. May, now a professor of pediatrics at New York University Medical School, was proposed for the top job in the Bureau of Medicine by FDA Commissioner George P. Larrick. The appointment was kept under study for the next 9 months by Boisfeuillet Jones, special assistant to the Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare for health and medical affairs. The Bureau of Medicine, which will administer the new drug laws passed by Congress and a series of new regulations, has been under an acting director since last August. CONTROVERSIES CITED Dr. May said he withdrew his name after a meeting at which Mr. Jones made the point that some of Dr. May’s past activities had made him a ‘controversial figure.” In an essay entitled “Selling Drugs by ‘Educating’ Physicians” and later in testimony before the Kefauver committee considering drug legislation, Dr. May questioned the promotional practices of the drug manufacturers. He contended that guidance of physicians on the most effective treatment for various conditions should come from within the medical profession. Dr. May was formerly a member of the American Medical Association’s Council on Drugs and former editor of ‘Pediatrics,’ the official journal of the American Academy of Pediatrics. He said he had made himself available for the FDA job “out of a sense of public duty,” although it would have been a financial sacrifice. Those who opposed hig appointment, he said, “had the attitude that anyone who appeared and spoke of the need for further legislation was automatically considered hostile to industry.”’ CONSCIOUS OF POSITION “T don’t see how you can take a stand on any issue without someone being displeased,” he added. Asked about Dr. May’s decision to withdraw his name, Mr. Jones denied that Dr. May’s writings or testimony before the Kefauver committee had anything to do with delaying a decision on his appointment. Mr. Jones also denied that he had been approached by representatives of the drug industry to oppose the appointment. “We don’t question Dr. May’s competence or his scientific objectivity,’ Mr. _ Jones said, “but it’s perfectly obvious that he was a subject of controversy not only in industry but in scientifie circles.” Mr. Jones said he did not act on the May appointment because the Citizens _Advisory Committee report on FDA was imminent and he wanted to see if any changes would be recommended in the makeup of the Bureau of Medicine which would influence the choice of a director. The advisory committee’s report was made public October 25. SALARY AN ISSUE He said he had considered other prospects besides Dr. May. He said he was trying to find somebody “acceptable to industry, the consumers and the academic world but we’re not trying to satisfy industry per se.” He acknowledged that ‘‘the kind of people we’re talking about come at salary levels considerably above $20,000.” “We want to give Commissioner Larrick an opportunity to develop a first-class organization,” he said. “We’re going to look over his shoulder and help him while he does it.” Commissioner Larrick briediy outlined his troubles in getting and keeping a director. He said he had a capabie one but lost him because the salary wasn’t large enough. After canvassing the country unsuccessfully for a successor, he said, he promoted Dr. William Kessenich from within the bureau.

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