In 2009, Public Citizen praised the appointment of Margaret Hamburg to be head of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

When Dr. Sidney Wolfe retired last year as head of Public Citizen’s Health Research Group, Hamburg returned the favor.

Margaret Hamburg

“Sid has been a tireless advocate for patients for many years and we at FDA expect that this important work will continue at Public Citizen,” Hamburg said. “We wish him well as he assumes a new role within the organization.”

But today, with Hamburg announcing that she’s leaving the FDA, the thrill is gone.

The new head of Public Citizen’s Health Research Group, Dr. Michael Carome, says that under Hamburg, the FDA protected corporations more than she protected patients.

Carome said that the resignation of Hamburg “will end a six-year period of weak and ineffective leadership at one of the most important public health agencies in the country.”

“Throughout Hamburg’s tenure, the FDA has grown even more cozy with the industries that it regulates,” Carome said. “Too often, the FDA has succumbed to industry and political pressures, implementing policies and taking actions that tilt too far toward the bottom-line interests of pharmaceutical and medical device companies, and away from protecting public health. Transparency of agency decision-making also has suffered with Hamburg at the helm.”

Carome said that the FDA “needs a leader in the mold of Dr. David Kessler, someone who will be an aggressive, proactive crusader focused on protecting consumers and patients from medical products that are unsafe or ineffective.”