Written by Cathy Kelly
Friday, 14 April 2017

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“As commissioner he would keep a hard line and say that FDA is not in the business of advising on drug pricing or reimbursement or coverage of drugs. But they are in the business of efficacy and as part of efficacy, value.” – Marc Samuels, founder and CEO of the ADVI consulting firm, said in an interview.

Nevertheless, policy analysts anticipate he will limit his focus to FDA if he gets the job. “Both on the transition and even before that as an AEI thought leader, Scott weighed in on the drug debate,” Marc Samuels, president and CEO of the health policy consulting group ADVI, noted in an interview. “But I think as FDA commissioner, he will take a much more traditional role.”

“I think Scott would take the view that it’s a bad idea to have FDA specifically reacting on price,”Samuels added. “Given the dynamics, I don’t know how far out of his lane he’ll get. I don’t think it will be very far. I don’t think he’ll want to, given all there is to do at FDA … As commissioner he would keep a hard line and say that FDA is not in the business of advising on drug pricing or reimbursement or coverage of drugs. But they are in the business of efficacy and as part of efficacy, value.”

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