MedCity morning read, Thursday, Feb. 19

The choices for U.S. Food and Drug Administration commissioner are apparently down to two. And The New York Times reports that there’s one clear favorite for Health and Human Service secretary.

Kansas Gov. Kathleen Sebelius, who served eight years as that state’s insurance commissioner, is favored because of “her record of navigating partisan politics as a Democrat in one of the country’s most Republican states,” according to The Times.

Ms. Sebelius’s family and her administration have both been notably bipartisan. Her father was a Democratic governor of Ohio and her father-in-law was a longtime Republican member of Congress from Kansas. She won her first term with a former Republican businessman as her running mate and a second term with the former Republican state party chairman on her ticket.

The Times also said next week the Obama administration will have a health-care focus. He may make health care a theme of his prime-time address to Congress on Tuesday.

Other stories worth a read:

• Is fibromyalgia real, and if so, are drug companies profiting from the uncertainty of the disease? (Kevin MD)
• Vertex Aims to Raise $320M in Secondary Stock Offering (Xconomy)
• Report: FDA scaled back enforcement at labs (Associated Press)
• Indiana biotech grew by 20 percent (Economic Times)
• U.S., Norwegian, Irish biotechs raise millions (FierceBioTech)