The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has brought in a Big Pharma cheerleader to lead the agency that regulates Big Pharma. In February, President Obama’s nominee Robert Califf sailed through the Senate approval process to be approved as the next FDA commissioner. Robert Califf – President Obama Califf has financial ties and some very deep connections to the pharmaceutical industry as AlterNet reports: Califf, chancellor of clinical and translational research at Duke University until recently, received money from 23 drug companies including the giants like Johnson & Johnson, Lilly, Merck, Schering Plough and GSK according to a disclosure statement on the website of Duke Clinical Research Institute. Not merely receiving research funds, Califf also served as a high level Pharma officer, say press reports. Medscape, the medical website, discloses that Califf “served as a director, officer, partner, employee, advisor, consultant or trustee for Genentech.” Portola Pharmaceuticals says Califf served on its board of directors until leaving for the FDA. In disclosure information for a 2013 article in Circulation, Califf also lists financial links to Gambro, Regeneron, Gilead, AstraZeneca, Roche and other companies and equity positions in four medical companies. Gilead is the maker of the $1000-a-pill hepatitis C drug AlterNet recently wrote about. This is FDA commissioner material? Califf [...]