President Trump and some of his allies have called for slashing regulations and making it easier to get drugs through the Food and Drug Administration. But the pharmaceutical company Regeneron doesn't want the teeth to be pulled from the agency.
"I want a tough FDA because I want a high bar," Regeneron CEO Dr. Leonard Schleifer said on a conference call Thursday. He doesn't want the drug industry to devolve into the "infomercial business and anything you can say is fine and doesn't matter whether the product actually works or not."
Why this matters: Although this isn't the first time Schleifer has advocated for strong standards at the FDA, it's a reminder that any Trump FDA pick who wants to gut the rigor of drug review won't have the backing of the entire industry.