Patrizia Cavazzoni, M.D., has rejoined Pfizer as its Chief Medical Officer, the company announced. Cavazzoni previously served as the Director of the Center for Drug Evaluation and Research (CDER) at the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA).
Cavazzoni will lead Pfizer’s “regulatory, pharmacovigilance, safety, epidemiology, and medical information and evidence generation, among other medical functions,” the company said in a press release.
The company described the former FDA official as a “world-class developer of medicines across a wide range of therapeutic modalities and has more than 25 years of experience in clinical development, pharmacovigilance, clinical operations, regulatory affairs, safety risk management, pharmacovigilance, epidemiology and R&D strategy.”
While working for the FDA, Cavazzoni “ensured the availability of safe and effective medicines and led the regulatory and policy decisions on prescription and over-the-counter medicines.” According to the release, there was “significant innovation in drug evaluation and research, with a focus on advancing public health initiatives” within the CDER under Cavazzoni’s leadership.
Cavazzoni’s transition to Pfizer is the latest example of former FDA officials moving to the pharmaceutical industry in what has been called the “revolving door.”
In 2023, the British Medical Journal (BMJ) released its investigation of the “revolving door” between the government and private sectors. The investigation centered on two former FDA employees overseeing COVID-19 vaccines who went to work for Moderna.
After working for the FDA as its lead medical officer in the Office of Vaccines Research and taking part in advisory meetings for COVID-19 vaccines, Dr. Doran Fink headed the “translational medicine and early clinical development programme in infectious diseases” for Moderna, the BMJ wrote at the time.
Another doctor, Jaya Goswami, also worked for the FDA before shifting to Moderna. During her time with the FDA, Goswami was “responsible for evaluating whether the clinical data for Moderna’s covid vaccine met regulatory standards for approval.”
