The Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) Center for Devices and Radiological Health (CDRH) recently announced a new voluntary pilot program to streamline review of 510(k) submissions for ophthalmic optical coherence tomography (OCT) devices. OCT devices are devices that are used for viewing, imaging, measurement, and analysis …
Last month, FDA announced a plan for revamping the 510(k) Third Party Review Program (the “Program”), which was outlined in a publication, Eliminating Routine FDA Re-Review of Third Party 510(k) Reviews (the “Plan”). One element of the Plan includes the issuance of a draft guidance, …
On September 25, 2018, FDA issued a final guidance document: Benefit-Risk Factors to Consider When Determining Substantial Equivalence in Premarket Notifications (510(k)) with Different Technological Characteristics (“guidance”). A draft of the guidance was issued on July 25, 2014. When reviewing device 510(k)s, FDA’s review of …
On September 28, 2018 FDA issued a new draft guidance document: The Special 510(k) Program (“draft guidance”). The draft guidance was followed by the announcement on October 1, 2018 of a Special 510(k) Pilot Program. The Special 510(k) program was established in 1998 to create a …
It is common for uncertainty to arise during the premarket review of novel medical devices. How CDRH has handled that uncertainty in the context of its benefit-risk assessment has generally been somewhat of a black box. While FDA has issued numerous benefit-risk guidances, the Agency …
FDA recently issued its final rule for the Voluntary Malfunction Summary Program, which permits manufacturers to report certain device malfunctions for low-risk products in summary form on a quarterly basis, as an alternative to the Medical Device Reporting (MDR) requirements set forth in section 519 …
On September 6, 2018, FDA launched the Quality in 510(k) Review Program Pilot (“Quik”). With the name “Quik,” it has a lot to live up to. The goal of the program is to simplify the 510(k) process by providing an alternate method of preparing a …
Comment one, comment all! As part of FDA’s ongoing effort to clarify the classification for medical device accessories (see our previous posts here, here, and here), on August 17, 2018, FDA issued a notification requesting comments on a proposed list of accessories that FDA believes …
One of the most painful consequences of a bad inspection at a U.S. facility is FDA’s resulting refusal to issue certificates to foreign governments (CFGs) until the issues are resolved. CFGs are quite often a requirement to renew licenses and permits to sell in various …
Since 1992, the Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA’s) efforts to regulate laboratory developed tests (LDTs) have been one of the most controversial device regulatory topics. We have written about this topic multiple times (see our list at the end of this post). The focus of many …
By Jeffrey N. Gibbs and David A. Gibbs* – FDA’s premarket approval (PMA) advisory panels are high visibility events. Both FDA and companies invest heavily in preparing for these meetings. Thus, when the rules governing PMA panel meetings change, it should be big news. Yet, when FDA …
By far one of CDRH’s greatest recent successes has been the Pre-Submission program. In our experience, more companies have been engaging early and often with the Agency to discuss product-related regulatory issues and questions. Under the Food and Drug Administration Reauthorization Act and the MDUFA …
On June 5, 2018, FDA published a notice in the federal register finalizing the 510(k) exemption for several devices. The proposed list for 510(k) exemption was published last November and included two new devices that had been granted marketing authorization through the de novo process …
On May 31, 2018, CDRH issued the draft guidance, “Recommended Content and Format of Complete Test Reports for Non-Clinical Bench Performance Testing in Premarket Submissions.” The draft guidance is intended to provide an outline of the type of information to be included in non-clinical bench …
Since our last post on Digital Health, FDA has continued their public campaign to raise awareness and seek input on the Software Precertification (Pre-Cert) Program. This blog post covers topics that don’t affect only software companies. While the focus is on software, the potential implications …
