Medical Device Premarket Review - FDA Draft Guidance

For the first time, the U.S. FDA (Food and Drug Administration) has provided draft guidance clarifying how benefit-risk determinations are made during premarket review of certain medical devices.

The guidance focuses on premarket approval applications (PMAs), the regulatory pathway for high-risk medical devices. The recommendations made in the guidance are intended to improve the predictability, consistency and transparency of the premarket review process for applicable devices, and should help manufacturers navigate the approval process more easily.

In its review of PMAs, the FDA uses safety data and effectiveness data. The safety data addresses risk, and the manufacturer’s ability to mitigate that risk. The effectiveness data considers benefits, as well as other information, to determine whether the probable benefits outweigh the probable risks associated with use of the device.

Safety and effectiveness data alone may not provide a complete picture of the benefits and risks. FDA medical device reviewers objectively look at other factors such as the severity of the disease the product diagnoses or treats and whether or not alternative tests or treatments are available.

Device reviewers also may consider whether the device is new or a first-of-a-kind technology as part of the benefit-risk determination, particularly if the device treats a disease that has no other treatment.

The guidance also proposes that medical device reviewers use a worksheet to document how they make benefit-risk determinations. In certain cases, this document could be made public post-approval, making the FDA’s decision making process even more transparent.

Learn more:
FDA - Draft Guidance for Industry and Food and Drug Administration Staff - Factors to Consider when Making Benefit-Risk Determinations in Medical Device Premarket Review

FDA Issues MDDS Final Rule

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Updated March 11, 2021

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FDA finalizes regulation for certain software, hardware used with medical devices - Rule provides more predictable path to market.

The FDA announced a final rule that provides a less-burdensome path to market for certain hardware and software products used with medical devices. The rule classifies these products, known as Medical Device Data Systems or MDDS, as Class I or low-risk devices, making them exempt from premarket review but still subject to quality standards.

Medical Device Data Systems are off-the-shelf or custom hardware or software products used alone or in combination that display unaltered medical device data, or transfer, store or convert medical device data for future use, in accordance with a preset specification. Examples of MDDS products include: devices that collect and store data from a blood pressure cuff for future use or that transfer thermometer readings to be displayed at a nursing station for future use.

Here's a thought-provoking article, Final MDDS rule deems hospitals medical device manufacturers. In this article, it mentions, "The final MDDS rule will apply to “all manufacturers,” the FDA says. Critically, this includes hospitals, health care facilities or any other organization that does any of the following: . . ."

As of this writing, the Medical Device Data Systems rule will be published in the Federal Register. Read the rule here: Medical Devices; Medical Device Data Systems - FDA Final Rule (PDF).

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Read Or Download The GAO Report - The FDA And High Risk Medical Devices (pdf)

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The FDA and medical device industry just got a wake-up call. Seems like this GAO report suggests greater rigor is needed in the premarket review process, MEDICAL DEVICES - FDA Should Take Steps to Ensure That High-Risk Device Types Are Approved through the Most Stringent Premarket Review Process. In any event, seems like this industry sector can expect potentially more rigorous regulation in the future . . . Bottomline, the reports states, "We are recommending that the Secretary of Health and Human Services direct the FDA Commissioner to expeditiously take steps to issue regulations for each class III device type currently allowed to enter the market through the 510(k) process. These steps should include issuing regulations to (1) reclassify each device type into class I or class II, or requiring it to remain in class III, and (2) for those device types remaining in class III, require approval for marketing through the PMA process." From your perspective, would more stringent regulation be a good thing? 

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