Roche Subsidiary Official to Take No. 2 Role at FDA (1)

One of the leading voices in using health data to advance targeted treatments known as precision medicine has been tapped for the second-highest post at the FDA.

Amy Abernethy, chief medical officer for Flatiron Health, will join the Food and Drug Administration as its principal deputy commissioner early next year, FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb announced Dec. 17. She will replace Rachel Sherman, a longtime FDA staffer who is retiring in January.

The announcement comes as an increasing number of new treatments cleared by the FDA are personalized therapies—such as Gilead’s Yescarta—which use diagnostic tests and patients’ genetic makeup to ...