Jim O'Neill, managing director at Silicon Valley investment company Mithril Capital Management, has been under consideration to head the Food and Drug Administration since early December. On Thursday, Balaji Srinivasan's name surfaced as a potential new candidate for the position, according to STAT.
Here are five things to know about Mr. Srinivasan.
1. He is an investor in several technology startup companies and has worked closely with Peter Thiel — the technology advisor to President-elect Donald Trump.
2. Mr. Srinivasan is most well known for founding the bitcoin startup 21 in 2013. He also co-founded Counsyl, which makes prenatal genetic tests, although he is no longer directly involved with the company.
3. Mr. Srinivasan has been very critical of the FDA, claiming the agency creates "catastrophes" to increase funding and that drug development takes too long, according to STAT.
4. In December, Mr. Srinivasan tweeted, "Drug development prior to FDA shows that modern regime is not necessary for safe innovation."
5. A tweet from Mr. Srinivasan in August reads, "A drug fails, and the producer's market cap deservedly drops by millions. A drug fails, and Congress increases the FDA's budget by millions."
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