Acting Center for Drug Evaluation and Research director Jacqueline Corrigan-Curay told colleagues on 23 June she will retire from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in July, ending an eight-year tenure and adding to a string of senior departures from the agency this year. The FDA moved to fill the vacancy on 21 July, naming biotech veteran and Stanford physician-scientist George Francis Tidmarsh, M.D., Ph.D., as the next CDER director. Tidmarsh brings more than three decades of experience in drug development, including leadership roles at Horizon Pharma and La Jolla Pharmaceutical, and has overseen the successful approval of seven medicines. RBC Capital Markets analyst Brian Abrahams said Tidmarsh’s appointment addresses a critical leadership gap at the FDA’s largest division, which regulates prescription, over-the-counter and generic drugs. The agency said his background spanning ‘bench to bedside’ research and industry management is expected to strengthen drug review programs and help steer ongoing modernization efforts.