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  • Medical Devices

    • ACI’s 5th Annual FDA Boot Camp: Devices EditionJuly 16th, 2017

      The American Conference Institute’s (“ACI’s”) 5th annual “FDA Boot Camp: Devices Edition” conference is less than two weeks away! The conference will take place from July 26-28, 2017 in Chicago, Illinois.  Jonette Foy, Ph.D., Associate Director for Policy (acting), CDRH, FDA will be presenting a keynote …

    • Is The 510(k) Process As Worthless As The Federal Courts Seem to Believe?July 11th, 2017

      Does the Food and Drug Administration’s review of medical devices in the 510(k) program involve a substantial review of safety and effectiveness? FDA says it does (p. 44). Device makers and those of us who practice in this area know how burdensome and extensive this …

    • User Fee Reauthorization Moves One Step Closer to Reality with House Committee PassageJune 8th, 2017

      On June 8, 2017, after a long mark-up session, the House Energy and Commerce Committee unanimously (54-0) passed H.R. 2430, the FDA Reauthorization Act of 2017 (“FDARA”). The Senate version of the bill, S. 934, passed out of the Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee …

    • For the Love of Money: The Trump Administration’s Fiscal Year 2018 FDA Budget PlanMay 23rd, 2017

      Cue up “For The Love of Money” by The O’Jays (and theme song of The Apprentice) . . . The Trump Administration’s Fiscal Year 2018 Budget Proposal is out! On May 23, 2017, The White House Office of Management and Budget released President Trump’s Fiscal Year …

    • FDA, Under New Leadership, Seeks More Comments on Rules Affecting Off-Label CommunicationsMay 19th, 2017

      Dr. Scott Gottlieb was sworn in as FDA’s 23rd Commissioner on May 11, 2017. There has been a lot of speculation about what policies he will prioritize for the Agency during his tenure.  A review of his background shows he has been an advocate for …

    • LDTs: The Saga ContinuesMay 14th, 2017

      Over its ten years the FDA Law Blog has posted numerous stories about FDA's regulation of laboratory developed tests (LDTs) (see, e.g., here, here, and here)  Yet, the story of FDA's efforts to regulate LDTs goes back even further than the FDA Law Blog, to …

    • ACI’s 5th Annual FDA Boot Camp: Devices EditionMay 12th, 2017

      The American Conference Institute’s (“ACI’s”) 5th annual “FDA Boot Camp: Devices Edition” conference is coming up fast! The conference will take place from July 26-28, 2017 in Chicago, Illinois. ACI’s FDA Boot Camp: Devices Edition delivers in-depth coverage of FDA regulatory law to professionals who work …

    • How Long is 60 Days? 59 Days and Change, or a Full 60 Days? A New Challenge to PTE Application Timeliness Raises the IssueMay 4th, 2017

      As simple as it may seem, counting can be a difficult human endeavor!  You need only recall Monty Python’s Holy Hand Grenade of Antioch skit to cement that fact!  Over the years we’ve commented (e.g., here) on the difficulty with counting to 60.  That’s the magic …

    • Proposed Legislation Seeks to Further Address the Issue of Classifying Device AccessoriesMay 3rd, 2017

      FDA has historically classified accessories in one of two ways: (1) according to the parent device’s classification (either by express inclusion in the classification regulation or by clearance or approval of an accessory under the parent device’s classification regulation); or (2) by establishment of a separate …

    • Congress Releases a (Near) Clean Draft User Fee Bill; Includes Restructured Assessment of Fees & Very Limited Policy RidersApril 20th, 2017

      On April 14, 2017, Congress released a discussion draft of a bill to reauthorize the FDA’s various user fee programs, commonly referred to as “the UFAs.” The FDA Reauthorization Act (FDARA) would renew the Agency’s authority to collect user fees in Fiscal Years 2018 through …

    • 510(k) Exemption – What’s Actually Exempt?April 16th, 2017

      FDA generated a great deal of the buzz a few weeks ago when it proposed exempting more than 1,000 Class II devices from the 510(k) requirements (see our earlier post here). Given the excitement, we thought it might be worth discussing what devices are no …

    • Another False Claims Act Case Dismissed in the Post-Escobar LandscapeApril 13th, 2017

      Since the Supreme Court’s decision in United Health Services v. United States ex rel. Escobar, we have seen a narrowing of situations in which courts will find liability under the False Claims Act (“FCA”).  A district court in Pennsylvania provided yet another example of this …

    • Congress Seeks a Statutory Fix to Stymied Off-Label DiscussionsApril 10th, 2017

      Without pomp or circumstance, Congressman Morgan Griffith (R-VA) introduced a bill on March 27, 2017, that would expand the communications pharmaceutical and medical device companies can have with doctors about their products. The bill, titled the Medical Product Communications Act of 2017, seeks to clarify …

    • Proposed Changes to the Device Intended Use RegulationApril 2nd, 2017

      Not long ago, we recommended that the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) begin a new rulemaking to update the intended use regulation. We promised a blog post to get the ball rolling with suggestions for improvement. The time has arrived. In the discussion below, the first …

    • Delay Is a Good ThingMarch 22nd, 2017

      One and a half years since FDA first proposed changes, two months since the final rule was published, one month after objections threatening an Administrative Procedure Act challenge, and one day before the rules would have taken effect, FDA announced on Monday that it would …