Medical Device Regulations & Compliance

INDUSTRY PERSPECTIVES

Navigating FDA Regulatory Changes: Policy Shifts, Deregulation, Restructuring, And Future Oversight

Recent shifts within the U.S. FDA reflect an increasingly complex tension between scientific rigor and accelerating political and economic pressures. Here are the newest developments and emerging focal points.

How Is RIM Software Transforming Regulatory Compliance?

Regulatory information management (RIM) software tools streamline global regulatory processes on a single cloud-based platform throughout the entire product life cycle.

Key Regulatory Landscapes For SaMD Around The World

As the use of medical device software and software as a medical device (SaMD) grows, regulatory bodies around the world are evolving to keep pace.

A Look At Elsa, The FDA's New AI Digital Assistant

The U.S. FDA recently launched its very own generative AI tool called Elsa. It's designed to assist FDA employees across various functions, from scientific reviewers to investigators.

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WHITE PAPERS & CASE STUDIES

The 5 Ws Of A Human Factors Strategy

A human factors strategy ensures medical products are safe, effective, and compliant by integrating user-focused design early, reducing risks, and optimizing regulatory approval processes.

Selecting The Best Deterministic Method For Your CCIT Project

Container Closure Integrity Testing (CCIT) ensures drug sterility, evolving with regulatory updates like USP <1207>. Deterministic methods are preferred over probabilistic ones to maintain product integrity.

Meeting Annex 1: A Proactive Approach To Regulatory Compliance

It was imperative for a large European CMO that produces multiple biologic drugs to select the right product quality and value for each customer to comply with the August 2023 revision to the EU GMP Annex 1.

Sustainable Solutions For Medical Devices

Explore how medical device companies aim to balance patient safety with environmental stability by offering bio-based UHMWPE, which reduces carbon footprints by up to 70%.

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ABOUT MEDICAL DEVICE REGULATIONS & COMPLIANCE

Medical devices, from ideation to post-launch assessment, are regulated in the United States by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) under the Medical Device Regulation Act of 1976 and subsequent amendments to the Federal Food, Drug and Cosmetics Act of 1938.

The FDA’s medical device regulatory pathways — for premarket review, clearance, and approval — are based on three classifications, indicating the degree of regulatory control necessary to ensure a device’s safety and effectiveness. Class I devices are considered low-risk, and many are exempt from the regulatory process. Class II devices require special controls for “labeling, guidance, tracking, design, performance standards, and postmarket monitoring,” and most require premarket notification 510(k) to demonstrate substantial equivalence (having the same intended use and technological characteristics) to a legally marketed device. Class III devices usually sustain or support life, are implanted, or present a significant risk of illness or injury. Most class III devices require premarket approval (PMA), which examines a variety of factors in weighing the probable health benefits from intended use of a device versus the probable risks.

Medical device makers must adhere to Current Good Manufacturing Practice (CGMP) regulations, which FDA inspectors use to determine if a manufacturer has the facilities, skills, and equipment to produce and pack its product. In addition, the FDA requires all medical devices to carry a unique device identifier (UDI), readable by both machines and humans, to “improve patient safety, modernize device postmarket surveillance, and facilitate medical device innovation.”

Medical device makers competing in international markets must monitor and adhere to the policies of foreign regulatory bodies, which can vary greatly, depending on the nation. Further, many global regulators require manufacturers to be certified by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO). ISO 13485 compliance, confirmed through third-party (Notified Body) audits, demonstrates a medical device manufacturer’s procedures and products meet or exceed international quality standards.

Efforts are also underway to standardize international regulations to ensure the safety, effectiveness, and quality of medical devices. The International Medical Device Regulators Forum (IMDRF) — composed of regulatory agencies from Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, Europe, Japan, Russia, and the United States — is building upon previous work by the Global Harmonization Task Force on Medical Devices (GHTF) to speed this harmonization and convergence.

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