Category: FDA

On October 24, 2023, the FDA, Health Canada and the United Kingdom’s Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) jointly publishing the “Predetermined Change Control Plans for Machine Learning-Enabled Medical Devices: Guiding Principles.” This new publication is intended to lay the foundation for PCCPs for Machine Learning-Enabled Medical Devices and encourage international harmonization.

At the end of July 2023, the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) issued a release indicating that they have recognized the following sterilization standard and Technical Information Reports (TIRs) to help advance innovation in medical device sterilization processes.

On September 15, 2023, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) updated and posted the Final Guidance for Industry and Food and Drug Administration Staff: Breakthrough Devices Program. This guidance updates the previous version of the guidance, of the same title, issued on December 18, 2018.

On September 6, 2023, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) released a statement about the issuance of the three new guidances as part of their effort to strengthen and modernize the 510(k) Program and advance the safety and effectiveness of medical devices.

On June 2, 2023, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) updated and posted the Final Guidance for Industry and Food and Drug Administration Staff: Requests for Feedback and Meetings for Medical Device Submissions: The Q-Submission Program.

On August 2, 2023, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) published a Federal Register notice that modifications were being made to the Recognized Consensus Standards for Medical Devices database.

On March 30, 2023, the U.S. FDA issued draft guidance outlining the use of Predetermined Change Control Plans (PCCPs) for AI/ML software.

On January 10, 2023, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and Health Canada announced a new joint pilot program. This program will conduct tests on the use of FDA’s eSTAR to make a single medical device submission to both FDA and Health Canada.

On the heels of the September 26 release of the FDA’s, “Digital Health Software Precertification (Pre-Cert) Pilot Program: Tailored Total Product Lifecycle Approaches and Key Findings,” the regulatory authority has released the long-awaited final guidance for “Clinical Decision Support Software” (September 28, 2022). This final guidance replaces the 2017 and 2019 draft guidance documents.

On September 26, 2022, the FDA a final report entitled, “Digital Health Software Precertification (Pre-Cert) Pilot Program: Tailored Total Product Lifecycle Approaches and Key Findings.” The Pre-Cert Program is intended to fast-track digital health products by reducing regulatory hurdles for developers of Software as a Medical Device (SaMD).

In May 2022, the FDA announced the 510(k) Sterility Change Master File Pilot Program in the Federal Register. Under the Pilot Program, the sterilization provider compiles and submits a Master File to FDA and, in the event the MAF is accepted and the 510(k) holder is granted a right of reference to the MAF, submission of a new 510(k) for the sterilization change may not be required.

Computational modeling and simulation (CM&S) can sometimes be useful to demonstrate the safety and effectiveness of medical devices or incorporated into devices. On December 23, 2021, the U.S. Food and Drug Administrations (FDA) announced the release of a draft guidance, “Assessing the Credibility of Computational Modeling and Simulation in Medical Device Submissions,” to provide clarification … Continued

Developing technologies in manufacturing, patient-matching and timely personalized patient care have identified the need to establish guidance and policy around the regulatory responsibilities of entities engaging in Point of Care (PoC) 3D printing. On December 10, 2021, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) released a discussion paper regarding 3D printing medical devices at the … Continued

On November 30, 2021, the U.S. Food and Drug Administrations (FDA) announced the release of a new playbook to assist medical device manufacturers in developing and evolving threat modeling approaches to strengthen the cybersecurity and safety of their products. The new “Playbook for Threat Modeling Medical Devices,” commissioned by the FDA and co-authored by MITRE Corporation … Continued

In step with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) commitment to develop a draft revised version of “Guidance for the Content of Premarket Submissions for Software Contained in Medical Devices” (2005), the agency, on November 3, 2021, has issued draft guidance—“Content of Premarket Submissions for Device Software Functions.”   

Medical device and diagnostic manufacturers seeking acceleration of U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval may benefit from one of two purpose-built FDA programs: 1) the Breakthrough Devices Program; and 2) the Safer Technologies Program (STeP). The benefits of these programs are substantial for manufacturers who apply, qualify and are granted designation by FDA.

On October 20, 2020, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) Medical Device Development Tools (MDDT) Program announced the qualification of a new tool for medical device development within cybersecurity risk evaluations.

In step with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) commitment to develop and apply innovative approaches to the regulation of medical device software and other digital health technologies, on January 12, 2021, the Agency released their first Artificial Intelligence/Machine Learning (AI/ML) – Based Software as a Medical Device (SaMD) Action Plan.

In step with the Breakthrough Devices Program, and the Agency’s promise to introduce additional programs that promote earlier access to life-changing devices, the U.S. FDA introduced the Safer Technologies Program (“STeP”) on January 6, 2021. The FDA’s latest program is intended for 510(k), De Novo or PMA devices that do not meet Breakthrough Devices Program criteria, but still have an important role in the treatment of lesser life-threatening or debilitating diseases/conditions and bring significant benefits to patients.

In recent weeks, NAMSA has become aware of instances in which the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) CDRH Office has closed Q-Submissions without review, citing resource constraints stemming from the COVID-19 Pandemic. With the FDA’s commitment to protecting public health, the agency has allocated resources to focus on COVID-19-related activities, working alongside other federal, state and local agencies and officials to address the pandemic.

This week’s release of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) final guidance on “Bone Anchors – Premarket Notification 510(k) Submissions” is based on the agency’s draft guidance from January 2017. While there are no significant differences between the draft document and the final guidance, the FDA did update this document to reflect other released guidance documents and minimal revisions.

On February 27, 2020, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced the launch of its new pilot program for 510(k) submission templates.

ASCA is the Accreditation Scheme for Conformity Assessment (ASCA), which was created by the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) following amendments to Section 514 by the FDA Reauthorization 95 Act of 2017 (FDARA).

In the fall of 2018, the U.S. Food & Drug Administration’s (FDA) Center for Medical Devices and Radiological Health (CDRH) announced the largest reorganization in years to initiate the Total Product Life Cycle (TPLC) approach across the institution (read more here). Fast forward to May 1, 2019—the date that the CDRH declared that it had … Continued

Since May 28, 1976, the United States (U.S.) Food & Drug Administration (FDA) has had an alternative in place to the extremely burdensome Investigational Device Exemption (IDE) and Pre-Market Approval (PMA) processes to get new products onto the market, and that alternative is called the 510(k) process. By definition, “510(k) merely refers to the relevant … Continued

The U.S. Food & Drug Administration’s (FDA) Center for Devices and Radiological Health (CDRH) is currently undergoing one of its most ambitious reorganizations in decades to initiate the Total Product Life Cycle (TPLC) approach across the organization. The TPLC methodology, which has been in place in the Office of In-vitro Diagnostics and Radiological Health (OIR) … Continued

Today, the U.S. Food & Drug Administration (FDA) published its User Fees for Fiscal Year 2019 (October 1, 2018 – September 30, 2019), which includes pricing for device submissions and establishment registrations. The official notice from the FDA may be found by clicking here. The most significant changes for U.S. medical device manufacturers to consider are … Continued

Introduction It is often difficult to stay abreast of the many regulatory changes occurring within the medical device industry, not to mention what they may mean in practice for global manufacturers. To assist with this mission, provided below is a mid-year review of noteworthy U.S. Food & Drug Administration (FDA) regulatory updates and guidance releases … Continued

In response to the goals set forth within the 2017 Medical Device User Fee Amendment (MDUFA IV), the U.S. Food & Drug Administration (FDA) issued on June 7, 2018, a new Draft Guidance for Pre-Submissions, intended to replace the September 29, 2017 Final Guidance. Although the Draft Guidance, “Requests for Feedback and Meetings for Medical … Continued

Introduction Within any industry, if you ask poor questions, you will often get poor answers. This is especially true for the medical device industry and more specifically, for product manufacturers seeking feedback from the U.S. Food & Drug Administration (FDA). Simply put, asking better questions can assist device organizations to identify and solve potential device … Continued