FDA Fills Long-Vacant Post in Drug Safety Unit

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has named a director of its Office of Drug Safety and is boosting the clout and stature of the unit that watches for side effects after medicines go to market, an FDA official said.

Staff scientist Gerald Dal Pan is being appointed to the long-vacant post, the official said. Dal Pan will report to the head of the agency's Center for Drug Evaluation and Research.

Dal Pan, a physician with training in neurology and internal medicine, joined the agency in 2000.