FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

September 22, 2009

Former FDA Commissioner Joins CHT

Washington, DC - September 22, 2009 - Dr. Andy von Eschenbach, former Commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration, has been appointed to the Center for Health Transformation (CHT) as a Senior Advisor.

In making the announcement Tuesday, Nancy Desmond, CHT President and CEO, said that von Eschenbach would lead the 21st Century FDA Modernization Project. That project will identify key priorities to improving the effectiveness and efficiency of the FDA.

"I am energized about the role CHT can play in catalyzing major change not just in the United States, but also globally,” said von Eschenbach. “There is a real opportunity to reduce risk and cost to the industry in exchange for a more rational pricing schedule for drugs coming into the market.” "It currently takes 17 years for a life-saving drug or treatment to make it from the lab to the patient – a delay that costs countless lives every year,” Desmond, said. “We are so excited to have Dr. von Eschenbach join us to launch the Center’s 21st Century FDA Project - a project dedicated to accelerating the creation and adoption of new drugs and discoveries that will save millions of lives and dramatically improve the health of every American.”

Von Eschenbach, who previously served as Director of the National Cancer Institute (NCI) at the National Institutes of Health (NIH), will also be actively involved in CHT’s Eliminating Cancer as a Cause of Death and Suffering Project and the Alzheimer’s Solutions Project. While at NCI, von Eschenbach set an ambitious agenda to eliminate the suffering and death due to cancer by rapid acceleration and integration of the discovery-development-delivery continuum.

About the Center for Health Transformation

The Center for Health Transformation, founded by former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich, is a high-impact collaboration of private and public sector leaders committed to creating a 21st Century Intelligent Health System that saves lives and saves money for all Americans.

For more information on CHT’s 21st Century FDA Modernization Project or for an interview with Dr. Andy von Eschenbach, please contact Alissa Momberg at 202.375.2001 or amomberg@gingrichgroup.com.