After Sharfstein

Principal Deputy Commissioner Joshua Sharfstein's unexpected exit from FDA has prompted Commissioner Margaret Hamburg to launch a 60-day organizational review. Drug developers will want to see whether Commissioner Hamburg is really going to tackle the hard issues.

The review is intended in part to redistribute Sharfstein's portfolio, unwind bureaucratic rivalries, and eradicate the impression that the agency was operating with two heads, according to senior FDA officials who would not speak for attribution...