New FDA commissioner

[Guest guest]

The jiggery pokery that goes on so she can be seen to have clean hands. Does anyone believe she will be unbiased? "No, I haven't made a bean from this company since I took office, uh yes... I did make 10 million BEFORE I took office, but I didn't let that sway me." Yeah, right.

MAY 26, 2009 New FDA Chief Must Divest Several Stock, Fund Holdings

 

By ALICIA MUNDY

WASHINGTON -- The new commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration

is among the wealthiest Obama administration appointees, with income of

at least $10 million in 2008 thanks mostly to her husband, a hedge-fund

executive, according to financial disclosure forms.

 

Margaret Hamburg and her husband, Peter Fitzhugh Brown, must divest

themselves of several hedge-fund holdings as well as some of Mr.

Brown's inherited drug-company stocks so Dr. Hamburg can take the post

as the nation's top food and drug regulator. Mr. Brown is a lieutenant

to hedge-fund magnate James Simons.

 

She was confirmed by the Senate last week.

 

Associated Press

 

Margaret Hamburg, recently confirmed as commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration, at her Senate hearing this month.

The couple's income in 2008 came from stocks, money-market accounts,

trusts and funds including several affiliated with hedge-fund sponsor

Renaissance Technologies, where Mr. Brown works.

 

The couple controls assets worth between $21 million and $40 million,

according to disclosure forms Dr. Hamburg gave the White House. The

forms don't reveal exact figures, just ranges.

 

Dr. Hamburg will make about $150,000 a year at the FDA. She is a former

New York City health commissioner and served in the Clinton

administration. More recently she has been affiliated with several

nonprofits including the think tank Nuclear Threat Initiative, which

paid her $100 a year as its senior scientist.

 

Before

her FDA nomination, Dr. Hamburg also served for five years on the board

of Henry Schein Inc., a $4 billion firm that distributes medical and

dental supplies including vaccines. Her remuneration has been in the form of Schein shares.

 

She will forfeit $100,000 to $250,000 in restricted stock and more than

11,000 unvested stock options, all of which have a strike price above

market value. She will also have to sell vested stock, valued between

$250,000 and $500,000.

 

Mr. Brown, an expert in artificial intelligence,

is vice president and director at Renaissance Technologies. The fund

company said recently its total assets were about $18 billion. Mr.

Simons was the top-paid hedge-fund manager in 2008, receiving $2.5

billion, according to Alpha magazine.

 

A lengthy review by the Government Ethics Office, which included direct

discussions with Renaissance managers, determined that both Dr. Hamburg

and her husband will have to get rid of their interest in four

Renaissance funds—the Renaissance Institutional Equities Fund, the

Renaissance Institutional Futures Fund, Meritage Investors and Topspin

Partners.

 

However, the couple will be allowed to retain their interest in

Renaissance's Medallion fund. An administration official said Medallion

was exempted because its computerized quantitative model trades rapidly

and holds shares only briefly, creating the equivalent of "a very blind

trust."

 

Its programming does not allow for human tracking or input except in

rare instances, meaning that neither Dr. Hamburg nor her husband would

be in a position to direct their Medallion account to companies or

areas affected by the FDA.

 

The Medallion Fund paid Dr. Hamburg between $1 million and $5 million

last year, and more than $4 million to trusts held by her and her

family.

 

Renaissance is currently the subject of some investor complaints

because RIEF, held mostly by outside investors, has been losing money,

while the Medallion fund, held nearly exclusively by Mr. Simons and his

colleagues, racked up big gains. Renaissance managers say RIEF never

was advertised to provide the same returns as Medallion, which they say

has a different investing strategy.

 

Mr. Brown has already sold his stock in Abbott Laboratories and shares

in Johnson & Johnson, Merck & Co. and Medco Health Solutions

Inc., which he inherited from his father. The couple will be allowed to

keep their part ownership in the Brown family's Rockland Farm in

Middleburg, Va. Because veterinary medicines and animal health issues

are covered by the FDA, they have removed themselves from all

management decisions.