The Senate on Monday approved 78-16 the nomination of veterinarian and pharmacologist Lester Crawford to permanently serve as FDA commissioner, the AP/USA Today reports (AP/USA Today, 7/18). Crawford has served as acting FDA commissioner since March 2004 (Heavey, Reuters, 7/18). The vote on Crawford's nomination came after months of delay, in part due to controversy over the agency's indecision about whether to approve Barr Laboratories' application for nonprescription sales of its emergency contraceptive Plan B (Harris, New York Times, 7/19). FDA in May 2004 issued a "not approvable" letter in response to Barr's original application to allow Plan B to be sold without a doctor's prescription and in January delayed a ruling on Barr's revised application, which would allow EC to be sold without a doctor's prescription to women ages 17 and older only. During a confirmation hearing in March, Crawford told the Senate health committee that FDA would approve the application "within weeks," but the agency has not yet made a decision on the revised application. As a result of the delay, Sens. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.) and Patty Murray (D-Wash.) in June blocked a full Senate vote on Crawford's nomination and said they would maintain the hold until FDA made a decision on Barr's Plan B application. The senators on Friday agreed to lift their holds after HHS Secretary Mike Leavitt in a letter to Sen. Mike Enzi (R-Wyo.), who chairs the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions, said that FDA will make a decision on Barr's application by Sept. 1 (Kaiser Daily Reproductive Health Report, 7/18).

NPR's "Morning Edition" on Tuesday reported on the Senate's approval of Crawford. The segment includes comments from Crawford, Enzi, Sens. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) and Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.), and Reproductive Health Technologies Project President Kirsten Moore (Silberner, "Morning Edition," NPR, 7/19). The complete segment is available online in RealPlayer.