Politics Who Is Alex Azar? New HHS Secretary Lobbied for Pharma

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Video by New York Daily News

Trump nominating Azar as next HHS secretary

President Trump's nominee to lead the Department of Health and Human Services has a deep knowledge of the regulatory process, those who worked with him said, but Democrats are likely to raise flags. On Monday, Trump tapped Alex Azar to fill the HHS secretary role vacated by Tom Price in late September amid revelations that Price took repeated trips on government and private jets that cost taxpayers over $1 million.Happy to announce, I am nominating Alex Azar to be the next HHS Secretary. He will be a star for better healthcare and lower drug prices!- Donald J.

The front-runner to replace Tom Price is Alex Azar , who worked at the Department of Health and Human Services under President George W. Bush before joining drugmaker Eli Lilly. Oct 17. OP. What, Pharma bro is not available? NBachers. Oct 17.

Deputy Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar meets reporters at the HHS Department in Washington, Thursday, June 8, 2006. The White House has nominated Alex Azar as the country’s new Health and Human Services Secretary , nearly eight weeks after former HHS Secretary Tom

Alex Azar, a former pharmaceutical executive, has been tapped by President Donald Trump to be the next secretary of Health and Human Services.

“He will be a star for better healthcare and lower drug prices," Trump tweeted from the Philippines on Monday.

Until last year, Azar was the president of the American division of pharmaceutical giant Eli Lilly where he oversaw lobbying efforts and corporate branding. When Azar joined Lilly, seven states were suing the company for allegedly pushing for off-label uses of a drug for treating bipolar disorder and schizophrenia. 

Before that, for six years, the Yale Law School and Dartmouth graduate worked in President George W. Bush’s Department of Health and Human Services, where he was first a General Counsel and then later became the Deputy Secretary. He won unanimous Senate approval during his confirmation process for that post.

Trump nominating Azar as next HHS secretary

President Trump's nominee to lead the Department of Health and Human Services has a deep knowledge of the regulatory process, those who worked with him said, but Democrats are likely to raise flags. On Monday, Trump tapped Alex Azar to fill the HHS secretary role vacated by Tom Price in late September amid revelations that Price took repeated trips on government and private jets that cost taxpayers over $1 million.Happy to announce, I am nominating Alex Azar to be the next HHS Secretary. He will be a star for better healthcare and lower drug prices!- Donald J.

Big Pharma ’s Azar to Head HHS : Trump Finds Another Fox to Guard Swamp’s Chicken Coops. In addition, Azar is also very familiar with the pharmaceutical lobby in Washington, having served on Top photo | Deputy Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar meets reporters at the HHS

Alexander @azakharov82 🔁 Alex Azar , Lebanese-American, leading to be #Trump new Health Secretary ! pedallas @pedallas49 🔁 Alex Azar , the pharma exec favored to be Trump’s pick as HHS secretary , says he got into health care “by accident.”

While serving in Bush's HHS, he helped to combat bioterrorism, prepare for public health emergencies and develop regulation. Some of the key issues he worked on were the federal medical response to Hurricane Katrina, repatriation of Americans evacuated from Lebanon, and the feared bird flu outbreak of the mid-2000s. 

At a press conference announcing his departure in 2007, Azar said of his time in the administration, "Our human services programs encourage individual responsibility and help families achieve independence." He left to pursue opportunities in the private sector, according to a release at the time.

© STEPHANE DE SAKUTIN/AFP/Getty Images) 11_13_Alex_Azar_HealthandHumanServices_HHS

Azar, who would oversee Obamacare for the Trump administration, in June told Bloomberg TV, “I’m not one to say many good things about Obamacare, but one of the nice things in it is it does give a tremendous amount authority to the secretary of HHS. ...There are still changes that can be made to make it work a little better than it has been.”

Azar once clerked for then-Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia. In 2011, he worked on then-presidential candidate Mitt Romney's campaign as a member on his justice advisory committee, which included several former Bush and Reagan administration officials.  

He would succeed Tom Price, the former secretary of Health and Human Services who resigned after reports that he used taxpayer-funded private planes for personal trips.

Azar is one of many new cabinet members who come from the corporate world, and seem to contradict Trump’s supposed intentions to “drain the swamp."