Patrizia Cavazzoni, former head of FDA’s drug center, joins Pfizer as chief medical officer

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Patrizia Cavazzoni, formerly the top regulator of the drug division of the Food and Drug Administration, will join Pfizer as chief medical officer, a role in which she will lead the drug firm’s regulatory, pharmacovigilance, and drug safety operations, the company announced Monday.

Cavazzoni was the head of the FDA’s Center for Drug Evaluation and Research (CDER), from 2020 until her departure in January. She was one of several top FDA officials who left the agency ahead of the confirmation of Robert F. Kennedy Jr., a longtime vaccine critic who has campaigned for the president on promises to shake up the FDA, as the new secretary of Health and Human Services Department.

At Pfizer, she will be an executive vice president and will report to Chris Boshoff, the company’s new chief scientific officer, who leads all research and development. Her job will include overseeing interactions with regulators around the world, monitoring medicines for safety, and providing medical information to doctors. Cavazzoni worked at Pfizer before joining the FDA in 2018 as deputy director for operations.

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