Democratic Senator Elizabeth Warren has urged President Trump’s nominee for deputy U.S. health secretary to step aside from decisions involving past clients and employers in the healthcare industry for a minimum of four years. Jim O’Neil, a health policy advisor with ties to various healthcare companies, is undergoing Senate confirmation for the role of Deputy Secretary of Health and Human Services. In a letter reviewed by Reuters on Monday, Warren requested that O’Neil commit to refraining from seeking compensation from any companies he regulated while in office for four years after leaving, as well as avoiding lobbying the health department or its agencies during that same timeframe. O’Neil, an associate of tech mogul Peter Thiel and former manager at Mithril Capital Management, has investments in biotechnology firms seeking FDA approval. Warren, a member of the Senate Finance Committee overseeing O’Neil’s nomination, expressed concerns about his impartiality due to his connections to HHS-regulated biomedical companies. O’Neil has agreed to recuse himself from matters involving ADvantage Therapeutics, a company developing an Alzheimer’s drug, for the required period under the law. Warren highlighted the importance of ethical commitments by government appointees and called for O’Neil to uphold the same standards. If approved, O’Neil would report to Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who has been critical of industry influence on health agencies and has pledged to prioritize transparency within the department.
