FDA's Janet Woodcock not to retire

SILVER SPRING, Md. – One of the Food and Drug Administration's top regulators is not retiring, contrary to rumors reported in news media Thursday.

In a memo sent out to staff, Center for Drug Evaluation and Research director Janet Woodcock wrote that she would not retire, but was becoming "more deeply involved" in such activities as proposed reorganizations of the Office of Pharmaceutical Quality and the Office of Generic Drugs.

"The inaccuracy of the media has unnecessarily raised concerns among Center staff, and even among my own family," Woodcock wrote. "My daughter emailed me this morning to ask if I'm retiring! I continue to be fully committed to the important work CDER does and to its staff who work so diligently to protect the health of the American public."

Woodcock was responding to a story run by Reuters early Thursday morning that reported that Woodcock, 65, who has worked at the FDA for 20 years, would be retiring in "at least a year" and that the drug industry was "already bracing for her departure."