The Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions on Aug. 1 plans to hold a confirmation hearing on the nomination of acting FDA Commissioner Andrew von Eschenbach to permanently head the agency, a committee spokesperson said Tuesday, Reuters reports (Reuters, 7/25). The hearing will provide 60 to 90 minutes for von Eschenbach -- who since September 2005 has been acting as FDA commissioner and who President Bush in March nominated to permanently head the agency -- to answer questions and give his vision for FDA, according to Craig Orfield, a spokesperson for HELP Committee Chair Mike Enzi (R-Wyo.). Orfield said, "It is unlikely they will vote on his nomination, but they will allow him to come before the committee and essentially make his case as head of the FDA." FDA spokesperson Susan Bro said that von Eschenbach "looks forward to sharing a vision and plan for the FDA of the 21st century" (Bridges, AP/Seattle Post-Intelligencer, 7/25). After President Bush nominated von Eschenbach, Sens. Patty Murray (D-Wash.) and Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.) announced in a statement that they planned to place a hold on his confirmation vote in the Senate because of FDA's delay of a decision on Barr Laboratories' application for nonprescription sales of the emergency contraceptive Plan B -- which can prevent pregnancy if taken up to 72 hours after sexual intercourse -- for girls and women ages 17 and older (Kaiser Daily Women's Health Policy Report, 3/21). Murray spokesperson Alex Glass on Tuesday said the two senators still plan to block a vote on Eschenbach's confirmation (Reuters, 7/25). Rodham Clinton spokesperson Sarah Gegenheimer said, "We're still in the exact same place, with all the same issues" (AP/Seattle Post-Intelligencer, 7/25).

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