An Ugly Divorce: Where Will David Kessler Land?

This was the email that went out to University of California San Francisco medical school staff on December 14 from Dean David Kessler:

Shortly after arriving at UCSF as Dean, I discovered a series of financial irregularities that predated my appointment. I reported these issues to appropriate university officials at the time, and have endeavored to work with the university ever since to solve these problems. The university characterized me as a whistleblower. During the summer, Chancellor Bishop requested my resignation. I continued to try to solve these problems. Yesterday, Chancellor Bishop terminated my appointment as Dean, effective immediately. Over the course of the past four years, it has been my pleasure and honor to work with the outstanding faculty, staff, students and donors of this remarkable school and institution. I want to thank all of you for the opportunity to foster and nurture outstanding programs on behalf of UCSF.

Sincerely,
David A. Kessler, M.D.
Professor of
Pediatrics, and Epidemiology and Biostatistics

The news came as somewhat of a shock to the academic community and Washington policy observers who followed Kessler when he was FDA commissioner under the Bush I and Clinton Administrations from 1990 to 1997. UCSF disputes Kessler’s account of the school’s finances.

It’s not the first time Kessler has stirred up controversy or been the target of an investigation into his handling of financial issues. Prior to his voluntary resignation as FDA commissioner in 1996, Rep. Joe Barton (R-Tex.) accused Kessler of overbilling the government for expenses of just under a $1,000. Kessler eventually wrote a check to FDA for the full amount.

After stepping down from FDA, Kessler subsequently took a position as Dean of Yale Medical School in 1997. After a six-year run at Yale, where it, in September 2003, Kessler was appointed Dean of the UCSF School of Medicine.

Kessler is not the first former FDA commissioner to have been involved in a dispute over the use of institutional funds. Former commissioner Donald Kennedy was forced to resign as president of Stanford University after 12 years (1980-1992) due to questions over the indirect use of university research funds.

Kessler says he will remain at UCSF as a professor but it’s hard to imagine that could last very long considering the nature of Kessler’s firing as dean. The RPM Report noted earlier this year that Kessler had reemerged from his quiet life as an academic and into the public spotlight as a very vocal observer in the wake of criticisms against FDA.

Kessler participated in a roundtable discussion of former FDA commissioners organized by the George Washington University School of Public Health in February. Kessler showed up a few months later at a May 7 House Oversight & Government Reform hearing on food safety.

At the time, we thought Kessler was angling for an appointment in a possible Democratic administration in 2008—maybe as head of NIH. But this latest spat with UCSF almost assuredly quashes any possibility of that happening. A new administration won’t be looking for a nomination fight early on in what looks to be another closely divided election.

But Kessler could still end up in Washington, nonetheless. His knowledge and skill in the area of health policy and regulation would be attractive to any number of think tanks inside the beltway. The Engelberg Center for Healthcare Reform was recently set up by former FDA commissioner and CMS administrator Mark McClellan at the Brookings Institute. Kessler also has ties to Ruth Katz, dean of the GW School of Public Health, and would be quite a catch for an institution taking an aggressive strategy in building up the school’s faculty.

However, it’s unlikely Kessler will find a position as prominent as dean of the UCSF medical school. And it’s all but certain that Kessler will be left out of the running for a coveted appointment if the Democrats take the White House.

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The Return of Lord Kesslermort

Where am I going with this, you ask? Well, he's been in hiding for years and all of a sudden there are ominous signs of him everywhere. While he doesn't literally carry the Dark Mark, he may as well from the drug industry's perspective (note: if you are not getting these Harry Potter references, my apologies, but I just finished the last book.)

I'm talking about former FDA Commissioner David Kessler, who served as head of the agency from 1990, under Bush I, to 1997, when he was succeded by Jane Henney in the twilight years of the Clinton I Administration. Kessler is arguably the most controversial commissioner in recent times for the way he took on drug companies, Big Tobacco and even orange juice producers. His pursuit of having FDA regulate tobacco products resulted in the FDA vs. Brown & Williamson Tobacco Co. case, which the agency lost.

In 1996, with the voices opposing him growing louder and louder, Kessler announced he was stepping down, and subsequently took a position as Dean of Yale Medical School in 1997. In September 2003, Kessler was appointed Dean of the University of California, San Francisco School of Medicine. Now 56, Kessler has reemerged from his quiet life as an academic and has been very vocal in the wake of criticisms against the FDA.

Kessler participated in a roundtable discussion of former FDA commissioners organized by the George Washington University School of Public Health on February 21st. Here's a few things he had to say:

On PDUFA:"We are willing to continue to support PDUFA...But if PDUFA is a negotiation with the regulated industry, I don't think that is going to be trusted," Kessler said at the GW panel discussion.

On FDA leadership stability: "You can’t have a commissioner every 18 months. You can’t run an agency if a commissioner is there for such a short period of time."

On personalized medicine: "The model that pharmaceutical development is based on is not a sustainable model. The notion that there are going to be drugs that we are going to be able to come up with and have millions and millions of people take safely—the blockbuster—that is the thing that has gotten us in this trouble."

After the GW panel, Kessler showed up a few months later at a May 7 House Oversight & Government Reform hearing on food safety. "Simply put, our food safety system is broken," Kessler testified at the hearing.

This quote, however, is what really grabbed my attention. In a great article by one of my favorite writers, Geeta Anand in the Wall Street Journal, Kessler says it's time to get novel, potentially life-saving therapies to market even faster than is currently being done. "We have to find creative ways of getting cancer drugs to patients even if we end up being wrong a few times,"Kessler said in the piece. Anand highlights the birth of the accelerated approval process under Kessler's watch. And despite his "anti-industry" reputation, he's the one that made the user-fee system work.

This seems to be an attempt by Kessler to remind the drug industry, "Hey, I'm for accelerating drug approvals." In my humble opinion, it appears that Kessler's recent high profile means he's angling for something, but what? When it comes to the FDA, it's a case of "been there, done that" for Kessler. CMS Administrator? I don't think so. In his stints at Yale and UCSF, he's worked jointly with their respective hospitals and health systems and he has an Advanced Professional Certificate in Management from New York University Graduate School of Business. But I don't think that's his cup of tea. It's more difficult to have a broad brush-stroke impact on healthcare at CMS compared to other agencies in the government.

That leaves two positions: director of the National Institutes of Health with its enormous budget or Secretary for Health & Human Services. I think Kessler would be a perfect fit for the former in a Democratic administration. He's an academic at heart and has led very large academic research institutions/budgets. But I think he wants the latter, where he could lead the public health agenda and finish off his crusade against tobacco which he started over a decade ago.

He's got ties to the Clintons, should Hillary Clinton win the election. However, she may want to distance herself from such a lightning rod as she seeks to stay in the political center. Kessler also has ties to Illinois, receiving his law degree from the University of Chicago in 1978. I'm not sure how much that would help him if Barack Obama were elected President. If a Republican takes the White House for a third consecutive term, I think it's back to the quiet of academia for Kessler.

Nevertheless, drug industry watchers should stay vigilant for anymore signs that He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named will return.

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