The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has proposed a draft guidance that would give medical device manufacturers more leeway in responding to misinformation about their products. The guidance comes as the agency has spent the past few years trying to dispel COVID-era misinformation that may have caused thousands of deaths. On 8 July 2024,…
The following new guidance documents for device manufacturers placing devices on the European market have been published in recent weeks: MDCG 2024-1-5: Urogynaecological Surgical Mesh Implants used for Pelvic Organ Prolapse repair and Stress Urinary Incontinence MDCG 2022-13 Rev.1: Designation, re-assessment and notification of conformity assessment bodies and notified bodies MDCG 2024-10: Clinical evaluation of…
The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has recommended steps for drugmakers and medical device makers to improve racial, ethnic and other diversity in their clinical trials. The draft guidance, “Diversity Action Plans to Improve Enrollment of Participants from Underrepresented Populations in Clinical Studies,” includes suggestions for companies and researchers conducting trials on how to…
On 21 June 2024, the Council of the European Union adopted its conclusions on the Future of the European Health Union, emphasising critical areas such as availability of medical technologies, digitalisation of health, and building more resilient health systems. In a press release issued the same day, MedTech Europe called on Member States to enact…
The UK Medicines and Health products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) has today published its ‘Statement of policy intent: international recognition of medical devices’. This policy is intended to allow medical device manufacturers to use device clearances in other regulatory jurisdictions to ease entry to the GB (England, Scotland, Wales) market by recognising other international regulators’ approvals…
The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) has set out its strategic approach to artificial intelligence (AI) in a new publication, available from here. Following publication of the UK Government’s white paper ‘A pro-innovation approach to AI regulation’, in 2023, the MHRA reports it has “taken significant steps in the past 12 months to…
After years of trying, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has released its plan to bring laboratory developed tests (LDTs) under its regulatory control over the next few years. The much-anticipated final rule amends the agency’s regulations to treat in vitro diagnostic (IVD) tests made by laboratories as medical devices and offers a phased…
On 25 April 2024, the European Parliament voted to adopt the Commission’s proposal to amend the In Vitro Diagnostic Medical Device Regulation (IVDR, 2017/746) and the Medical Device Regulation (MDR, 2017/745). There are three provisions in the amendments: The IVDR transition timescale is conditionally extended by two and a half years. This will help to…
The European Medical Device Coordination Group (MDCG) has release several new or updated guidance documents over the past few weeks, including: MDCG 2024-3 – Guidance on content of the Clinical Investigation Plan for clinical investigations of medical devices (March 2024) Overview of language requirements for manufacturers of medical devices (March 2024) MDCG 2024-4 – Safety…
The European Commission has published its Final Report following the ‘Study on the implementation of Article 17 of Regulation (EU) 2017/745 on medical devices on the EU market.’ The authors comment that: “This report presents an overview of national decisions regarding the reprocessing of SUDs [single use devices] in the countries studied (ranging from permitted…
