FDA EDWARDS COMMITTEE HAS NEW MEMBER, WARNER-LAMBERT CHAIRMAN

Executive Summary

FDA EDWARDS COMMITTEE HAS NEW MEMBER, WARNER-LAMBERT CHAIRMAN Joseph Williams, chosen to succeed Syntex President Paul Freiman. Williams will join the Edwards Committee in time for its next meeting on July 11-12. Freiman resigned from the committee prior to its first meeting in May in the wake of concern about his appointment expressed by Sen. Metzenbaum (D-Ohio). Chaired by Scripps Clinic President Charles Edwards, MD, the committee, also known as the "blue ribbon" panel, was formed to develop recommendations on how to strengthen FDA. Williams will be assigned to the committee's Subcommittee on Drugs and Biologics, chaired by David Kessler, MD, medical director, Albert Einstein College of Medicine ("The Pink Sheet" May 21, p. 3). Other members of the subcommittee include: Sen. Kennedy's (D-Mass.) former health aide Lawrence Horowitz, MD, now with James D. Wolfensohn, Inc.; Louis Lasagna, MD, Sackler School of Graduate Biomedical Sciences; former American Medical Association President Alan Nelson, MD; and Mylan President Milan Puskar. Williams has extensive experience in Washington committees. He was chairman of the Pharmaceutical Manufacturers Association during the acrimonious debate over the Waxman-Hatch ANDA/patent restoration act in 1984. His career spans 40 years in the pharmaceutical industry. Currently chairman of Project Hope, he is also a past president of the International Federation of Pharmaceutical Manufacturers Association (1986-1988).