FDA chief Gottlieb resigns as agency battles teen vaping, opioid crisis Gottlieb, who's credited with leading the FDA's charge against underaged vaping, is resigning to spend more time with his family. Gottlieb is widely respected in the health-care industry. He's made curbing teen vaping and speeding up approvals for generic drugs, among other measures to lower drug prices, top priorities. Angelica LaVito | @angelicalavito Published 38 Mins Ago Updated 1 Min Ago CNBC.com FDA commissioner Scott Gottlieb is resigning 14 Mins Ago | 01:48 Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Scott Gottlieb is leaving his post as the agency wages pitched battles against teen smoking and the opioid crisis and tackles complex new rules to regulate some cannabis products. Gottlieb, who's credited with leading the FDA's charge against underaged vaping, is resigning to spend more time with his family, people close to the regulator said Tuesday. The physician has been commuting from his home in Westport, Connecticut, where he has a wife and three young daughters, the people said. He plans to stay on at the agency for another month; his successor hasn't been named yet, they said. "Scott's leadership inspired historic results from the FDA team, which delivered record approvals of both innovative treatments and affordable generic drugs, while advancing important policies to confront opioid addiction, tobacco and youth e-cigarette use, chronic disease, and more," Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar said in a statement. Gottlieb is widely respected in the health-care industry. He's made speeding up approvals for generic drugs, among other measures to lower drug prices, a priority. One of Gottlieb's first initiatives was to overhaul the agency's tobacco policies. He introduced a sweeping plan in the summer of 2017 to lower the nicotine in combustible cigarettes to minimally or non-addictive levels while trying to get more adult smokers to switch to e-cigarettes. "Very few people have been more boldly on the side of consumers, lower drug prices and public health, willing to take on drug manufacturers and tobacco companies and make tough decisions," said Andy Slavitt, former Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services administrator. His tobacco policies have not come without criticism. Some have blames his decision to allow e-cigarettes to stay on the market for years after they were initially supposed to come off for fueling an "epidemic" of teen vaping. For the past year, Gottlieb has tried to push policies to curb teen use while keeping the products available for adult smokers. Tobacco stocks immediately jumped on the news. Shares of Altria Group rose 1.2 percent while shares of British American Tobacco traded in the U.S. were up by almost 2 percent.