Arnold & Porter Kaye Scholer has added Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld partner and former Food and Drug Administration deputy commissioner Howard Sklamberg as a partner in Washington, D.C.

Sklamberg, whose first day at Arnold & Porter was Monday, will be part of the firm's life sciences and health care regulatory practices. He was immediately placed on his new firm's COVID-19 task force.

Sklamberg's arrival comes as questions about the nation's medical regulatory regime have gained special urgency, with the United States and other countries scrambling to respond to the coronavirus pandemic. Many are pushing to streamline approvals from the FDA and other agencies to expedite effective treatments, for example.