FDA's food center will soon be filling a Bill Frankos-sized hole in its leadership.
The director of FDA's Division of Dietary Supplement Programs at the Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition, Vasilios "Bill" Frankos, will retire from the agency in March and move to Herbalife, taking the position of senior VP of product compliance and safety, the firm announces Jan. 19.
Frankos joins the global marketer of weight-loss, nutritional and personal care products effective in April, the firm says.
"Bill Frankos exemplifies Herbalife's commitment to providing science-based nutritional supplements of the highest quality available in the marketplace," says Michael O. Johnson, Herbalife chairman and CEO, in the Los Angeles-based firm's release.
Frankos, whose responsibilities at FDA include directing policy, budget, and administrative activities related to supplement activities, has been overseeing the "full implementation" of the Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act during the good manufacturing practices era, Herbalife notes in its announcement.
It is not yet known who will fill Frankos' shoes at the agency when he departs.
Daniel Fabricant, VP of scientific and regulatory affairs at the Natural Products Association, said Brad Williams, currently Frankos' assistant, is a "possibility" for a replacement.
Fabricant said it was a smart move on Herbalife's part, to have someone on staff with Frankos' expertise. "Under his watch, we had GMPs. We had AERs," he pointed out.
During his time at FDA, Frankos published the final rule for supplement good manufacturing practices and implemented the serious adverse event reporting requirements.
- Katie Stevenson
