Senate confirms Crawford as new FDA chief News
Senate confirms Crawford as new FDA chief

[JURIST] The Senate on Monday confirmed Lester Crawford [official profile] as the new head of the US Food and Drug Administration [official site] by a 78-16 vote [roll call], ending an earlier debate [JURIST report] about his nomination stalled by legislators' concerns. At issue was the FDA dragging its feet on a determination about the sale of an emergency contraceptive. The FDA has now promised a ruling on whether Plan B [FDA Q & A], the drug in question, may be sold over-the-counter by September 1 2005. AP has more.