FDA chief to step down

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Margaret A. Hamburg has tendered her resignation and will leave the office in March, according to the agency.

Hamburg, on the job for six years, said in an interview with the Wall Street Journal that it was her decision to leave, saying "this is a difficult and demanding job where you're buffeted by all sorts of points of view." FDA chief scientist Stephen Ostroff will temporary fill the position.

Hamburg has been credited with getting funding for stepped-up inspections of facilities that import fruits and vegetabes after getting Congress to approve the Food Safety and Modernization Act, signed by President Barack Obama in 2011. She also presided over approval of Plan B morning-after contraceptives and handled the tracking down of companies that mixed compounded drugs that were linked to the deaths of 64 people.

A new commissioner will require approval by Congress.