Alex Azar confirmed as US HHS Secretary

The full US Senate yesterday confirmed the nomination of Alex Azar as Secretary of the US Health and Human Services Department.

The Senate voted 55-43 on Wednesday to confirm Mr Azar’s nomination. He had until early last year served as president of pharmaceutical major Eli Lilly (NYSE: LLY) USA, having joined the company in 2007. He will serve in the post vacated by Dr Tom Price, who resigned last September amid controversy over his use of private and expensive charter jets for official travel.

In the HHS role, Mr Azar will oversee the Food and Drug Administration as well as Medicare and Medicaid, which together spend hundreds of billions of dollars each year on prescription medications.