GLOBAL NEWS

The European Commission has launched a public consultation seeking stakeholder input on the effectiveness of the EU Medical Devices Regulation (MDR, 2017/745) and the In Vitro Diagnostic Medical Devices Regulation (IVDR, 2017/746) in a targeted evaluation. An announcement stated that the evaluation will help the Commission “take stock” and assess the effectiveness, efficiency, and proportionality…

Following the EPSCO meeting on 3 December 2024 at which the subject of MDR/IVDR reform was discussed, MedTech Europe has published its response to the out come of the meeting, available from here. In the statement, the industry association comments: “[W]e call for the swift adoption of immediate measures, and before the targeted evaluation’s conclusions….

In the light of the anticipated go-live of most of the European database on medical devices (EUDAMED) modules in 2025, MedTech Europe has summarised in a position paper its viewpoint on ensuring a smooth transition to its mandatory use, in which it calls for improved accessibility, efficiency and consistency through technical and regulatory measures in…

ECRI has issued it ‘Top Ten Health Technology Hazards Report’ for 2025, available from here. The report identifies potential sources of danger involving the use of medical devices and systems. Further, the report offers practical recommendations for reducing the identified risks, all with the goal of preventing harm. The List for 2025 is: 1. Risks…

The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has issued a much-anticipated final guidance document detailing how it plans to regulate changes to artificial intelligence (AI) enabled medical devices post authorization by using pre-determined change control plans (PCCPs), allowing manufacturers to update AI-enabled devices without filing an additional submission to the Agency. The document is titled…

One day after the European medtech industry proposed short and medium term actions needed to support public health, patient safety, and the future sustainability of Europe’s health systems, concluding that “broad and comprehensive reforms” were needed, the EPSCO (Employment, Social Policy, Health and Consumer Affairs Council) meeting discussed similar measures proposed by several member states,…

The European Commission has published a Q&A on the obligation to inform about supply interruptions or discontinuations for specific devices, as required under the new Article 10a of the Medical Device Regulation (MDR, 2017/745) and In Vitro Diagnostic Medical Device Regulation (IVDR, 2017/746). This obligation, introduced by Regulation (EU) 2024/1860, affects manufacturers by mandating notification…

The European Parliament has adopted a resolution to update the Medical Devices Regulation (MDR) and In Vitro Diagnostics Regulation (IVDR) to avoid potential product shortages in the region, sketching out a timeline for when such changes will be proposed. The move comes as manufacturers have continued to voice concerns about the ability to meet deadlines…

The EU now has its 50th Notified Body under the Medical Device Regulations, NEOEMKI in Hungary, following the designation of the 49th, the Istituto Superiore di Sanita (ISS) in Italy being designated under the IVDR in September. NEOEMKI (Nemzeti Orvostechnikai Eszköz Megfelelőségértékelő és Tanúsító Korlátolt Felelősségű Társaság), based in Budapest, is the second designated under…

Perhaps the answer lies in the latest edition of TEAM-NB’s Code of Conduct which devotes a section to ‘structured dialogue’ for the first time, following the MDCG’s inclusion of the term in guidance documents MDCG 2022-14 and MDCG 2022-11 Rev. 1. As a reminder: MDCG 2022-11 Rev.1 states: “A proper assistance to manufacturers with regulatory…

The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Center for Devices and Radiological Health (CDRH) has published the user fees applicable to submissions, etc for fiscal year 2025, running from 1 October 2024 to 30 September 2025. The new fees represent a 12% increase over the 2024 fees. Further details are available from the FDA website….

The European Commission has published the final text of the Artificial Intelligence Act (AIA) which establishes a legal framework for “human centric and trustworthy” AI for medical devices, in vitro diagnostic devices (IVDs) and other products. The Act also sets harmonized rules for placing such products on the Community market. The AIA was published in…

The Competent Authorities for Medical Devices (CAMD) and the Heads of Medicines Agencies (HMA) have published a joint statement on the current status of the EU regulatory system for medical devices and in vitro medical devices. The statement, copy available from here, makes it clear that “there are challenges in applying the Regulations for all…

Regulation (EU) 2024/1860 includes changes to the device regulations in the areas of Eudamed roll-out, interruption of device supply, and transitional provisions for certain IVDs. The regulation (and it’s almost immediate corrigendum) were mentioned in a press release from the Council of the European Union published on 30 May 2024, which identified that the regulation…

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…

At the behest of Dr Peter Liese, MEP, who was co-rapporteur for the Medical Device Regulation (MDR, 2017/745), the European Parliament has provided the European Commission with a blueprint for an MDR Amending Regulation which would bring about significant changes to the current legislation. The 40-page document apparently addresses six principal concerns, with proposals for…

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…

Over the last few months the following new notified body designations have been announced: MDR – AFNOR Certification, France MDR – MTIC InterCert, Italy MDR – Kiwa Belgelendirme Hizmetleri, Turkey There are now 48 notified bodies designated under the MDR and 12 under the IVDR. A full list of notified bodies designated under the device…

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…

TuV SUD Denmark becomes the 45th Notified Body to be designated under the MDR, and is the first from Denmark. This compares with there now being 12 Notified Bodies designated under the IVDR. The announcement for TuV SUD Denmark follows a few weeks after a second Swedish Notified Body was designated under the MDR, this…

The European Commission has launched a public consultation on an update to its guidelines on benefit-risk assessments for medical devices containing phthalates. This is the first time the Commission has proposed updating the guidelines since they were released in 2019. The proposed update was published on 21 March 2024 by the Commission and its Scientific…

The European Commission has recently published its annual report on devices subject to the clinical evaluation consultation procedure (CECP), available from here. Titled ‘Commission Staff Working Document: Annual overview of devices subject to the clinical evaluation consultation procedure pursuant to Article 54(4) of Regulation (EU) 2017/745 on medical devices (July 2022-June 2023)’, the report identifies…

MDCG has published its updated schedule for MDR/IVDR guidance documents, revealing that more than 50 are scheduled to be released before the end of 2024. Copies are available from this web address.

The International Medical Device Regulators Forum (IMDRF) has now released the ‘Outcome Statement’ from its latest meeting, held 11-15 March 2024 in Washington DC, USA. Copies of the report are available from here, which include a note of the decisions made by the ‘regulators only’ closed session, during which eight revised guidance documents were approved…

The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has outlined a standardized approach for collecting and reporting on race and ethnicity data in clinical trials and studies in a new draft guidance document. “Using standardized terminology for race and ethnicity helps ensure that data are collected and reporting consistently in submission to FDA,” the agency wrote…

At the MDCG Subgroup on Standards (WG 2) held on 19 January 2024, it was confirmed that for all industrial sectors, the accepted symbol for ‘Authorised Representative’ would change from ‘EC¦REP’ to ‘EU¦REP’. It has been proposed that a two-year transition period would be allowed for product labeling to be brought into line with the…

Misuse of medical devices at home is the most pressing health technology safety hazard, nonprofit patient safety organization ECRI reports. ECRI’s list of the top 10 safety hazards related to medical technology also includes concerns about AI and data security. Since 2008, ECRI has issued its list of the top 10 safety hazards related to…

The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has published its long-awaited Quality Management System Regulation (QMSR) final rule that harmonizes its requirements with the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) standard ISO 13485. The agency said the rule will ensure consistency in regulatory expectations for device makers across regulatory regimes, while saving industry hundreds of millions…

The European Commission has proposed to accelerate the timeline for complying with EUDAMED requirements by making the use of finalized modules mandatory on a gradual basis. Under the current regulations, EUDAMED will not become mandatory until all six of its modules are in place; however, under the proposed revisions, EUDAMED compliance would be rolled out…

The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has issued two guidance documents relating to the use of the eSTAR (electronic Submission Template And Resource) submission process, which became the mandatory route for 510(k) submissions on 1 October 2023. The two guidances are: Electronic Submission Template for Medical Device 510(k) Submissions: Guidance for Industry and Food…

The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has announced the finalization of guidance to help institutional review boards (IRBs), clinical investigators, and sponsors comply with informed consent regulations for clinical investigations. The 61-page guidance revises a draft guidance issued in July 2014 and supersedes a guidance issued in September 1998. The document provides general guidance…

The industrry association for medical device notified bodies, TEAM-NB, explains that while extending the deadline for transition to EU Medical Device Regulation (MDR) compliance has been a positive move, there is more regulators and industry can do to ensure manufacturers can recertify their products on time to meet the new deadlines. In its recently issude…

The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has announced the user fees that will be payable by medical device manufacturers for interactions with the Agency’s Center for Devices and Radiological Health (CDRH) during Fiscal Year 2024, starting on 1 October 2023. The new fees, which include an increase of around 7.6% over the previous year,…

The announcement by the UK Government Department for Business and Trade (DBT) on 1 August 2023, that a broad acceptance of CE marks instead of the UKCA mark for the forseeable future, briefly caused confusion among the medical device community, considering that only weeks before had the transition deadlines for legacy medical devices been extended…

The latest news from the European Commission is that a fully functional EUDAMED is now not likely to be available until late 2026. Originally scheduled to be completed in May 2020, the much delayed roll-out is now taking place in phases, rather than all modules at one time. While some modules are already available, European…

The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has updated and expanded its list of premarket medical device consensus standards that include important topics such as medical device cybersecurity, sterilizing products using radiation and using certain materials and alloys. FDA published tables on 1 August listing voluntary consensus standards that are either withdrawn, replaced, corrected or…

The 39th notified body for the medical device regulations 2017/745 and 201/746 (MDR and IVDR) has now been named, this being Health Technology Certification (HTC), located in Nicosia, Cyprus. Details of all currently available notified bodies (29 for MDR and 10 for IVDR) are available on the NANDO MDR and IVDR websites.

MedTech Europe has made a template Manufacturer’s Declaration available to facilitate the declaration of manufacturers with respect to compliance with Regulation (EU) 2023/607, allowingmanufacturers to take advantage of the recently announced transition extension timescale for legacy devices. Any manufacturer may freely use the template to make their own declaration, or it may also be completed…

As at the end of March 2023, there have been some further additions to the lists of Notified Bodies now designated under the MDR and IVDR. The latest additions are: MDR: 29 November 2022, Institute for Testing and Certification, Czech Republic 8 December 2022, ICIM, Italy 20 January 2023, SLG Pruf und Zertifizierungs, Germany 20…

A new Commission Implementing Regulation will soon be published to align the implementation timescale for the Common Specification (CS) on MDR Annex XVI products with the revised transition timescales for legacy devices covered in Regulation (EU) 2023/706. The full title of the new regulation as currently drafted is: “Regulation amending Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2022/2346…

The US Food and Drug Administration has published a final guidance document titled: ‘General Considerations for Animal Studies Intended to Evaluate Medical Devices: Guidance for Industry and Food and Drug Administration Staff’, available from here. The introduction to the guidance states: “This guidance document provides the FDA’s recommendations on animal studies intended to evaluate medical…

The UK Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) has updated its webpage referencing the EU’s publication of Amending Regulation (EU) 2023/607 on the extension of transition times for ‘legacy devices’ under the Medical Device Regulation (MDR, 2017/745) to advise that: “These extensions apply automatically in Northern Ireland. Certificates that have been extended will also…

Further to the acceptance of the European Parliament and Council of the Commission’s recommendations for extending the transition period of MDD ‘legacy devices’ under the MDR, the Commission has published a guidance document titled ‘Extension of the MDR transitional period and removal of the ‘sell off’ periods: Q&A on practical aspects related to the implementation…

Following last week’s formal approval of the European Commission’s proposal to extend the transition timelines for certain ‘legacy devices’ and eliminate the ‘sell-off period’ from the Medical Device Regulation (MDR, 2017/745) and the In Vitro Diagnostics Regulation (IVDR, 2017/746), Amending Regulation (EU) 2023/607 has now been published. The Preamble to the Regulation states, as industry…

In the UK Chancellor of the Exchequer’s budget statement on Wednesday 15 Marcy 2023, the potential future of medical device regulation was included. Based on an interim report from Sir Patrick Vallance, UK Government Chief Scientific Adviser, dated 8 March 2023, the Chancellor announced a commitment to some of the early outcomes of the ‘Regulatory…

Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2023/502 of 1 December 2022, which took on 11 March 2023, reduces the frequency of complete re-assessments of notified bodies from three years (1st complete re-assessment) and four years (following the 1st) to every 5 years in both cases; however, the competent authorities have the liberty to decide if complete re-assessment…

The European Council (EC) has approved a measure to extend the transition period for medical devices under the Medical Devices Regulation (MDR, 2017/745) and to remove the sell-off provisions for existing products as required under MDR and the In Vitro Diagnostic Medical Devices Regulation (IVDR, 2017/746). On 7 March 2023, the Council voted 27-0 to…

As indicated in an earlier news item, while the EU ENVI Committee approved the second corrigenda for the MDR and IVDR, at the EPSCO Council meeting on 9 December, it is reported that the European Commission accepted a concession from the member states to ‘voluntarily’ introduce one Eudamed module by May 2020. The module…

One month after members of the European Council expressed support for delaying the Medical Device Regulation (MDR, 2017/745) transition period in a meeting of the Employment, Social Policy, Health and Consumer Affairs Council (EPSCO), the European Commission on 6 January 2023 adopted a proposal to allow medical device manufacturers more time to complete certification of…

The European Commission issued new guidance documents in December 2022 relating to both the Medical Device Regulation (MDR, 2017/745) and the In Vitro Diagnostic Regulation (IVDR, 2017/746), as follows: MDCG 2022-19: Performance study application/notification documents under Regulation (EU) 2017/746 MDCG 2022-20: Substantial modification of performance study under Regulation (EU) 2017/746 MDCG 2022-4 rev.1: Guidance on…

Maggie Fick, a reporter with Reuters.com, published an article titled ‘Medical device makers drop products as EU law sows chaos’ on 19 December 2022, commenting, quite accurately “A law created to stop one criminal company’s actions 10 years ago now endangers patients’ lives, including children, and European manufacturing sites. Is that what the EU wants…

The Life Sciences Council of the United Kingdom (UK) has today published a joint statement on a new agreement with other stakeholders, including UK industry representatives, to “accelerate the delivery of the future UK HealthTech regulatory system”. The statement, copy available from here, explains that “The reform of the UK’s Medical Device regulation offers a…

Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2022/2346 of 1 December 2022, laying down common specifications for the groups of products without an intended medical purpose listed in Annex XVI to Regulation (EU) 2017/745 (MDR) and Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2022/2347 of 1 December 2022 laying down rules for the application of the MDR as regards reclassification of…

The European Commission intends to extend the transition period under the Medical Devices Regulation (MDR, 2017/745) for an additional three years. The proposal was raised at the Employment, Social Policy, Health and Consumer Affairs (EPSCO) Council meeting on 9 December 2022 by the European Commissioner for Health, Stella Kyriakides, and supported unanimously by the member…

Although the proposals for easing the current regulatory burden on medical device manufacturers as a result of delayed implementation of the MDR announced on 9 December may go some way to avoiding the disappearance of many medical devices from the European market, German associations from various groups have expressed their concern in recent weeks. Spectaris,…

The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has issued a draft guidance document titled ‘Content of Human Factors Information in Medical Device Marketing Submissions: Draft Guidance for Industry and Food and Drug Administration Staff“ The draft is intended to be, when finalised, a companion guidance to document ‘Applying Human Factors and Usability Engineering to Medical…

The pan-European industry association for medical technology manufacturers, MedTech Europe, has developed and published an infographic to bring attention to its ‘Urgent call for action’ to European legislators to support high-level solutions to the delays, bottlenecks and other problems that have beset the introduction of the new Medical Device Regulations (MDR, 2017/745 and IVDR, 2017/746)….

The European Commission’s Medical Device Coordination Group (MDCG) has published a new guidance on Authorised Representatives under the Medical Device Regulations (MDR, 2017/745 and IVDR, 2017/746), replacing the January 2012 MEDDEV 2.5/10 ‘Guideline for Authorised Representatives’ which applied to authorised representation under the Medical Device Directives (MDD and IVDD). The new guidance is MDCG 2022-16…

At the 24 October meeting of the MDCG, some alarming, but not unexpected, details relating to notified body capacity in the run-up to the final days of implementation of the Medical Device Regulation (MDR, 2017/745) and the In Vitro Diagnostic Regulation (IVDR, 2017/746) were presented by the European Commission following a survey of notified bodies….

Is the European Commission at last listening to the MedTech industry as further delays and the lack of notified bodies threaten the final implementation stages of the new device regulations? In this context, the Medical Device Coordination Group (MDCG) published guidance document MDCG 2022-14, titled ‘Transition to the MDR and IVDR – Notified body capacity…

In a ‘letter to industry‘ dated 22 October 2022, the UK regulator, the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA), advised that it was implementing a 12-month extension to the current ‘standstill period’, mainly because additional time is needed to introduce the new medical device regulation that was initially planned to take effect from 1…

The US Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) Center for Devices and Radiological Health (CDRH) has proposed that devices that aim to eliminate disparities in health care be designated ‘breakthrough products’. The agency is also considering expanding its criteria for breakthrough devices to include products that treat rare diseases, as well as non-addictive products to treat…

On 13 October, the European Commission’s Committee on Medical Devices voted on the draft Commission Implementing Regulation on the common specifications (CS) for groups of products without an intended medical purpose, as listed in Annex XVI of the Medical Device Regulation (MDR, 2017/745), copy available from here. The industry group representing manufacturers of these product…

TEAM-NB, the industry association for European notified bodies designated under MedTech regulations, has published a position paper titled ‘Best Practice Guidance for the Submission of Technical Documentation under Annex II and III of Medical Device Regulation (EU) 2017/745 – Information to be supplied by the manufacturer – a collaborative notified body approach’. The 44-page document…

TEAM-NB, the industry association for medical device notified bodies, has published a number of new position papers in recent weeks, including: Transfer agreement template: specifying the terms of voluntary change of notified body under Regulation (EU) 2017/745 or Regulation (EU) 2017/746 Data generated from ‘off-label’ use of a device under the EU Medical Device Regulation…

Now available from the Commission website are the following new guidance and informational documents: MDCG 2021-22 rev.1 – Clarification on “first certification for that type of device” and corresponding procedures to be followed by notified bodies MDCG 2022-13 – Designation, re-assessment and notification of conformity assessment bodies and notified bodies MDCG 2022-14 – Transition to…

The US Food and Drug Administration has now published its revised user fees for its fiscal year (FY) 2023, which starts on 1 October 2022. Any submissions or applications arriving at the Agency on or after 1 October 2022 will need to have paid the new fees, which are: As can be seen from the…

The US Food and Drug Administration has published the final version of its guidance document ‘Clinical Decision Support Software – Guidance for Industry and Food and Drug Administration Staff’, available from here. Three years have passed since the Agency issued a draft of the document, to which many comments were received as a result of…

The European Commission has published the latest version of its Medical Device News Newsletter, available from here. Topics covered include: MDCG publishes a list of actions on notified body capacity and availability of medical devices and IVDs Common specifications for several types of high-risk diagnostics Guidance on harmonised administrative practices & alternative technical solutions EC…

Several recent additions have been added to the NANDO databases for Notified Bodies (NBs) designated under the Medical Device Regulation (MDR, 2017/745) and In Vitro Diagnostics Regulation (IVDR, 2017/746). The latest assessment bodies to be designated are Bureau Veritas Italia and the Certification Division of the Spanish Agency for Medicines and Healthcare Products (AEMPS). 32…

The EC Medical Device Coordination Group (MDCG) has published a new guidance clarifying the requirements of Article 16 of the Medical Device Regulation (MDR, 2017/745) and In Vitro Diagnostic Regulation (IVDR, 2017/746) relating to the circumstances under which EU importers and distributors of medical devices may be regulated as manufacturers. The guidance, MDCG 2021-26, ‘Questions…

An ad hoc task force of the EC Medical Device Coordination Group (MDCG) recently issued a report to the group clarifying many aspects of which transitional provisions in Article 120 of the Medical Device Regulation (MDR, 2017/745) would apply to so-called ‘legacy devices’. The report recommended that the MDCG accept the report as written and…

Italy has added another notified body (NB) to those now designated to operate under the EU Medical Devices Regulation (MDR, 2017/745), making a total of 24 available for use by device manufacturers, according to the NANDO website. Milan-based Certiquality, NB reference number 0546, is the latest to be added to the list of NBs designated…

The EU Commission has proposed an amendment to the transition of the In Vitro Diagnostic Regulation (IVDR, 2017/746) according to a press release and an accompanying Q&A webpage. In summary, the Commission has proposed that higher risk devices such as HIV or hepatitis tests (class D) and certain influenza tests (class C), have a transition…

The EC Medical Device Coordination Group (MDCG) has now published its guidance reference MDCG 2021-24, ‘Guidance on classification of medical devices’, to help manufacturers of devices regulated by the Medical Device Regulation (MDR, 2017/745) reach the correct conclusion about specific devices. The guidance follows the same format used for the preceding guidance relating to the…

The US Food and Drug Administration has now published its final rule on the de novo pathway for medical device clearance, clarifying the requirements for manufacturers whose devices may need to use the route in future. The 84-page final rule includes only minor changes from the 2018 draft rule. The pathway is used by manufacturers…

According to the Eudamed webpage, a significant upgrade will be installed over the period from 30 September and 4 October 2021, and users are advised not to try and access the system during this time, but to wait until a confirmation of upgrade completeness is published on the same webpage. The notice warns that the…

To allow consultation among competent authorities (CAs) on borderline and classification issues concerning medical devices, and to ensure that appropriate guidance is published in the Manual on Borderline & Classification for Medical Devices (the Manual), the Borderline & Classification Working Group (BCWG) of the Medical Devices Coordination Group (MDCG) has updated the ‘Helsinki Procedure’ first…

The European Commission has published the September 2021 copy of its Newsletter for Medical Devices, copy obtainable from here. The Newsletter covers, among other topics: A webinar for patients Launch of a UDI Helpdesk Transitional provisions for IVD certification Q&A for specific combinations of medicinal products and medical devices Rules for Eudamed registration Identification numbers…

The UK government, via the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) has now published its consultation on the future regulation of medical devices in the UK. The MHRA webpage introducing the consultation is available from here, and the consultation questionnaire itself is accessible here. As background, the current 2021 version of the 2002 device…

The UK Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) is inviting responses to a consultation seeking views on extending the restrictions on the use of four phthalates in medical devices, monitoring and control equipment in Great Britain (GB). “We want to know what you think about a proposed restriction on the use of 4…

MedTech Europe, the European trade association for the medical technology industry including diagnostics, medical devices and digital health, ran a survey in July 2021 to gather data from IVD manufacturers on the state of the IVD market today and how they are expected to transition to the IVD Regulation within ten months from the survey…

CEN has now published EN ISO 13485:2016+A11:2021, ‘Medical devices – Quality management systems – Requirements for regulatory purposes’, adding Annex Zs to the already published standard. It is expected that the European Commission will add EN ISO 13485:2016+A11:2021 to the slowly growing list of standards harmonized under the Medical Device Regulation (MDR, 2017/745) and the…

Between 1 July 2021 and 1 September 2021, the following notified bodies (NBs) have been added to the lists of NBs available for operation under the Medical Device Regulation (MDR, 2017/745) and In Vitro Diagnostics Regulation (IVDR, 2017/746), according to the NANDO database: TÜV Rheinland Italia (23rd NB under the MDR) GMed SAS (6th NB…

MDCG 2021-23 is a new guidance document published by the Medical Device Coordination Group (MDCG) addressed to importers and distributors of medical devices on the requirements in Article 16 of the regulations. Article 16 is headed ‘Cases in which obligations of manufacturers apply to importers, distributors or other persons’, and apply in cases such as:…

MedTech Europe (MTE), the European trade association representing the medical technology industry including diagnostics, medical devices and digital health, has provided its response to the European Commission’s adoption consultation on the proposed Artificial Intelligence Act (AIA). The Association comments that: “Artificial Intelligence (AI) technology is increasingly used in healthcare and in recent years has been…

The European Medicines Agency (EMA) has published a new guidance document, titled ‘Guideline on quality documentation for medicinal products when used with a medical device’, providing advice on the quality information that manufacturers of combination products should submit in marketing authorization applications (MAA) to the Agency. The guideline also incorporates the recent revision of the…

In only a trickle rather than the desired flood, the first five standards to be harmonised under the MDR and IVDR have been published in the Official Journal of the European Communities (OJEC). Four of the standards are identified for both MDR and IVDR, covering sterilization, and one has been identified for medical devices only,…

The International Medical Device Regulators Forum (IMDRF) has published guidance document WG/N66FINAL:2021, titled ‘Assessment and Decision Process for the Recognition of a Conformity Assessment Body Conducting Medical Device Regulatory Reviews’. The document explains the assessment process and outcomes, including the method to “grade and manage” nonconformities resulting from a recognizing Regulatory Authority’s assessment of a…

MDCG 2021-19, ‘Guidance note integration of the UDI within an organisation’s quality management system’, has now been published by the Medical Device Coordination Group (MDCG), detailing its advice on how, when implementing the requirements of the MDR/IVDR related to its QMS, manufacturers should consider how the UDI system and related MDR/IVDR obligations should be integrated….

The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has now finalized its guidance on requirements for unique device identifiers (UDI), nearly five years after releasing its draft guidance and eight years after issuing the UDI final rule. FDA said the final guidance is intended to describe “the requirements for, and FDA’s recommendations regarding, the form and…

MedTech Europe – the European trade association for the medical technology industry including diagnostics, medical devices and digital health – has provided rapid feedback on the decision by the Council of the European Union, to endorse the text of the future Regulation on Health Technology Assessment (HTA). MedTech Europe comments that: “Our industry supports EU…

MDCG 2021-13 rev.1, ‘Questions and answers on obligations and related rules for the registration in EUDAMED of actors other than manufacturers, authorised representatives and importers subject to the obligations of Article 31 MDR and Article 28 IVDR’, has now been published by the Medical Device Coordination Group (MDCG), adding a further question to the document….

Swissmedic, the medtech competent authority in Switzerland, issued a statement on 26 May 2021, titled ‘Modification of the Medical Devices Ordinance (MedDO) in the context of pending agreements between Switzerland and the EU’, which read, in part: “On 19 May 2021, the Federal Council approved supplementary provisions to the implementing regulations on medical devices. These…

The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has published two new draft guidance documents for public comment before 26 July 2021. The first is titled ‘Postmarket Surveillance Under Section 522 of the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act: Draft Guidance for Industry and Food and Drug Administration Staff’, available from here. This draft explains that…

Unique Device Identification (UDI) requirements have been introduced under Regulations (EU) 2017/745 on medical devices (MDR) and (EU) 2017/746 on in vitro diagnostic medical devices (IVDR), which become applicable from 26 May 2021 and 26 May 2022 respectively. The UDI system enhances the identification of medical devices and makes it easier to trace them when…

The European Medicines Agency has updated its 2015 Question and Answer guidance document on the combination product consultation procedure to align its content with the requirements of the Medical Device Regulation (MDR, 2017/745). The document has the catchy title of ‘Questions & Answers on the consultation procedure to the European Medicines Agency by notified bodies…

Eurofins Expert Services Oy, located in Finland, has become the twentieth Notified Body (NB) to be designated under the EU Medical Device Regulation (MDR, 2017/745) according to the NANDO database. Eurofins is Notified Body number 0537 and remains designated under the Medical Device Directive (MDD, 93/42/EEC) and In Vitro Diagnostics Directive (IVDD, 98/79/EC). The European…

The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has launched a new webpage aimed at providing support and advice to medical device manufacturers on the steps needed to demonstrate device biocompatibility in submissions to the Agency. The website introduces the subject by stating: “These resource pages are intended to explain terms and concepts important for the…

The European Commission’s Medical Device Coordination Group (MDCG) has issued a new guidance in the form of a Q&A document, introduced as being a “high-level document aimed at addressing the most pertinent questions relating to custom-made devices falling under Regulation (EU) 2017/745 on medical devices (MDR)”. The document is titled MDCG 2021-3 ‘Questions and Answers…

The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is building a secure, web-based tracker that displays the Center for Devices and Radiological Health’s progress on medical device submissions focused on premarket review. The progress tracker is the first feature of a larger platform to help FDA collaborate with the medical device industry. FDA is currently seeking…

The International Standardisation Organisation (ISO) has now published a new standard in the biocompatibility series ISO 10993 that specifies the use of laboratory-grown skin for irritation testing, as an option to animal testing. The new standard is ISO 10993-23:2021, titled ‘Biological evaluation of medical devices — Part 23: Tests for irritation’, which replaces the irritation…

The Medical Devices Coordination Group (MDCG) has published a 31-page document, MDCG 2021-1, titled ‘Guidance on harmonised administrative practices and alternative technical solutions until EUDAMED is fully functional’. Interestingly, the first page states: “The document is not a European Commission document and it cannot be regarded as reflecting the official position of the European Commission.”…

The European Commission has published a new guidance document titled ‘Management of Legacy Devices, MDR EUDAMED‘, explaining “how Legacy Devices will be identified in EUDAMED and the way the different Unique Device Identifiers for the Legacy Devices will be generated/assigned”. The document clarifies that “Legacy Devices are defined as Medical Devices, Active Implantable Medical Devices…

The number of Notified Bodies cleared to offer services in accordance with the Medical Device Regulation (MDR, 2017/745) continues to creep up, with two more companies being identified on the NANDO database since the beginning of the year, these being: SGS Fimko OY, Finland, and Istituto Superiore di Sanita (ISS), Italy The number of Notified…

Health Canada has recently updated its list of recognised standards to include 14 new standards, the replacement of 29 standards with newer editions, and the removal of three standards. Stakeholders have until 16 March 2021 to comment on the revised list. In addition, Health Canada is reminding companies that its rules on post market surveillance…

The European Commission has released the names of members appointed to its 12 expert panels on medical devices and in vitro diagnostics (IVDs). The expert panels, established under the Medical Device Regulation (MDR) and In Vitro Diagnostic Regulation (IVDR), will provide scientific, technical and clinical input to the Commission, its Medical Device Coordination Group (MDCG),…

As a result of the Covid-19 pandemic, device manufacturers preparing for compliance with the Medical Device Regulation (MDR, 2017/745) have suffered delays with notified body audits, because of travel restrictions. The Commission has therefore decided to allow ‘virtual audits’ under certain conditions, and has published a ‘Commission Notice‘ in the Official Journal to set out…

The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has published the final version of its guidance document titled ‘Requests for Feedback and Meetings for Medical Device Submissions: The Q-Submission Program’, superseding the draft published in June 2018.
As in the draft, the guidance provides advice to medical device manufacturers on the following types of …

Health Canada has written to all Medical Device Licence holders and Medical Device Establishment Licence (MDEL) holders in relation to the introduction of post-market surveillance requirements that amend the Medical Devices Regulations, as published in the Canada Gazette, Part II (Vol. 154, No. 26). Health Canada explains that the changes have been made “to strengthen…

The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has added or updated nearly 100 voluntary consensus standards to its list of recognised standards for medical devices, available via its standards database search page. The updated standards include a number from the IEC 60601 series, including references to consolidated versions of: IEC 60601-1-2 IEC 60601-1-6 IEC 60601-1-8…

The Irish Competent Authority for medical devices, the Health Products Regulatory Agency (HPRA) has updated its guidance for medical device distributors, making it relevant to compliance with the Medical Devices Regulation (MDR, 2017/745) rather than the Medical Device Directive (MDD, 93/42/EEC). The guidance is published in ‘redline version’, so the changes from the previous version…

18 Notified Bodies are now listed on the NANDO website for medical devices falling under the Medical Device Regulation (MDR, 2017/745) and 5 are now listed for the In Vitro Diagnostics Regulation (IVDR, 2017/746). These numbers are still well short of the number needed to cope with the anticipated influx of requests to Notified Bodies…

The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has announced that it will be carrying out a ‘soft launch’ of a real-time tracking system for pre-market submissions in January 2021. FDA committed to providing a submission tracker in its MDUFA commitments to the medical device industry, so during the January 2021 soft launch, the submission’s Official…

The European Commission’s Medical Device Coordination Group (MDCG) has published long-awaited guidance, MDCG 2020-16, that explains how to classify products for compliance with the EU’s In Vitro Diagnostics Regulation (IVDR, 2017/746). The IVDR is replacing the classification system from the In Vitro Diagnostics Directive (IVDD, 98/79/EC) with a risk-based system, which will require the reclassification…

The UK Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) has published on its website full details of how the device registration system for the UK will operate post-Brexit, from 1 January 2021. As already known, only UK entities will be allowed to make the device registrations, these being either UK device manufacturers, UK Responsible Persons…

Team-NB (the European association of notified bodies) has published a position paper on the IVD Regulation (2017/746) date of application, indicating that their member Notified Bodies would support maintaining the current May 2022 date of application, provided that the following conditions are met by the end of 2020: The tools necessary to perform conformity assessments…

The catalog collates a variety of regulatory science tools that the FDA’s Center for Devices and Radiological Health’s (CDRH) Office of Science and Engineering Labs (OSEL) developed and plans to expand as new tools become available. “These tools expand the scope of innovative science-based approaches to help improve the development and assessment of emerging medical…

Sponsors of medical devices that are electrically powered or have electronic circuitry need to include 11 categories of safety information in their premarket submissions, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has said in a draft guidance document intended to replace the Agency’s 2016 guidance on electromagnetic compatibility of devices. The guidance applies to submissions…

Under the IVDR (2017/746) manufacturers will need to state on their labels when the device is intended for self-testing or for near-patient testing, and for certain rapid tests when they are not intended for self-testing nor for near-patient testing. MedTech Europe (MTE) wants to make this more effective by providing industry with agreed symbols for…

The International Medical Device Regulators Forum (IMDRF) made further progress towards global harmonization of device standards at its most recent meeting, held for the first time as a virtual conference due to COVID-19 restrictions. Among other actions at the September meeting, hosted by Singapore, IMDRF approved the final draft of a document on conformity assessment…

Donawa Lifescience Consulting (DLC), headquartered in Rome, Italy, has announced the opening of a company in Great Britain (GB), Donawa Lifescience Ltd., to provide non-UK companies with ‘United Kingdom Responsible Person’ (UKRP) services as an easy initial pathway to the post-Brexit medical device market in Great Britain. Following the publication of the UK Medicines and…

The UK government has published a further set of draft amendments to the Medical Devices Regulations 2002 (as previously amended), for which a draft amendment was published in late 2019 (the ‘Amendment of the Medical Devices (Amendment etc.) (EU Exit) Regulations 2019’), but which has now been further amended in ‘The Medical Devices (Amendment etc.)…

The European Commission has published a number of guidance documents related to how manufacturers, authorised representatives and importers (‘economic operators’) will be able to access and register with the ‘actor registration’ module of Eudamed from 1 December 2020. A new webpage has been set up within the Eudamed website, relating only to the actor registration…

Donawa Lifescience Consulting (DLC), headquartered in Rome, Italy, has announced the opening of a wholly owned company in the US State of Massachusetts, Donawa Lifescience Inc., to promote its Clinical Research Organisation activities to both its existing and potential North American clients. Donawa Lifescience Inc., together with…