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Dr. Norman E. “Ned” Sharpless, director of the National Cancer Institute, will serve as acting commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration, Alex M. Azar III, secretary of health and human services, announced on Tuesday. Dr. Sharpless temporarily will fill the post being vacated by Dr. Scott Gottlieb, who stunned public health experts, lawmakers and consumer groups last week when he abruptly announced that he was resigning for personal reasons. (Kaplan, 3/12)

Dr. Sharpless, a native of Greensboro, N.C., studied math at UNC-Chapel Hill, where he also got his medical degree before completing his internship and residency at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston. He was a clinical and research fellow at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston. Dr. Sharpless is the candidate favored by Dr. Gottlieb for the permanent job of FDA commissioner, according to a person familiar with the issue. Dr. Giroir has been backed by Mr. Azar, the person said. Dr. Giroir declined to comment. (Burton, 3/12)

"We have no doubt that Dr. Sharpless will continue to navigate and direct the FDA in a manner that best benefits patients, and we look forward to executing critical work with him in his new role," Ellen Sigal, founder and chair of Friends of Cancer Research, said in a statement. The search for a permanent FDA chief is still under way. (3/12)

Part of Sharpless’s appeal is that he could start at the FDA relatively quickly. It’s also possible he would be nominated as permanent commissioner later. He has never been confirmed by the Senate — which is not required for the National Cancer Institute post or acting head of the FDA. But as a presidential appointee, he has been extensively vetted and has divested himself of financial holdings that could pose conflicts of interest. Sharpless has contributed to a number of Democratic candidates, including a total of $750 to Barack Obama’s 2008 and 2012 presidential campaigns, according to Federal Election Commission records. (McGinley and Goldstein, 3/12)

Azar said in a statement that Sharpless’ "deep scientific background and expertise" will make him a strong leader for FDA. He added, "There will be no let-up in the agency’s focus, from ongoing efforts on drug approvals and combating the opioid crisis to modernizing food safety and addressing the rapid rise in youth use of e-cigarettes.” (Owermohle, 3/12)

Last Tuesday, Gottlieb said he would step in down in April after less than two years leading the FDA, a massive public health agency that regulates the food, drug, medical device and tobacco industries, among others. He was widely viewed as one of President Donald Trump’s most effective administrators, serving as a key messenger on the federal response to rising drug prices, the opioid epidemic and underage use of e-cigarettes. (Perrone, 3/12)

Sharpless also co-founded the pharmaceutical company G1 Therapeutics Inc., which is developing cancer treatments for certain lung and breast cancers. (Edney, 3/12)

Sharpless is also familiar with the biotechnology industry and the drug-development process. He has co-founded two early-stage biotech companies: G1 Therapeutics, a developer of cancer drugs that raised $108.6 million in a 2017 initial public offering, and HealthSpan Diagnostics, a developer of blood tests. “One of the things that made me appealing to the White House was that in addition to working in research and as a cancer center director, I’d had some work in the commercialization of ideas, from a basic science lab into a Phase 2 trial asset,” Sharpless told STAT in a 2018 interview, shortly after taking over NCI. (Facher, 3/12)