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  • Medical Devices

    • CDRH Finalizes Guidance Regarding Sharing of Patient-Specific Information from Medical DevicesNovember 27th, 2017

      On October 30, CDRH finalized the guidance entitled, “Manufacturers Sharing Patient-Specific Information From Medical Devices With Patients Upon Request”.  This is the final version of the guidance, “Dissemination of Patient-Specific Information from Devices by Device Manufacturers” issued in June 2016 (see our blog post on …

    • FDA Finalizes Guidance on When to Submit a 510(k) for a Change to an Existing DeviceNovember 14th, 2017

      On October 25, 2017, FDA issued a final guidance: Deciding When to Submit a 510(k) for a Change to an Existing Device. This guidance is a final version of the draft issued in 2016 (see our post on the 2016 draft here). Despite receiving a …

    • FDA’s Digital Health Software Precertification (Precert) ProgramNovember 12th, 2017

      Digital health technologies are moving forward toward rapid adoption in the United States.  Yet, software developers are often apprehensive about the often long and detailed process of FDA’s premarket review.  FDA’s new Digital Health Software Precertification (Precert) Program (“Precert Program”), announced in August 2017 (see …

    • “Mutual Recognition” Kicks Into High GearNovember 1st, 2017

      On October 31st, FDA made its long anticipated announcement recognizing the first European drug regulatory authorities capable of conducting inspections of manufacturing facilities that meet FDA requirements. The eight countries that were announced are: Austria, Croatia, France, Italy, Malta, Spain, Sweden and the United Kingdom. The …

    • CDRH Issues Draft Guidance Regarding Breakthrough DevicesOctober 31st, 2017

      The 21st Century Cures Act (Cures), signed into law in December 2016, established a program to provide priority review and management attention for breakthrough devices. We discussed the new section of the law in our earlier post on Cures (here). The law required FDA to …

    • 510(k) Exemption – What’s Actually Exempt Part IIOctober 24th, 2017

      Our April 16th blog post regarding 510(k) exemptions (here) garnered a lot of comments from our readers. So we thought it was worth a second post. As you will recall, the .9 limitation says that a device of the generic type in a 510(k)‑exempt classification regulation …

    • Flurry of New Guidances from CDRH and Notable Changes to the Pre-Submission ProcessOctober 16th, 2017

      Getting an early jump on winter, between September 29 and October 2, CDRH issued a blizzard of new guidance documents. All eleven of these guidances were issued based on commitments from MDUFA IV.  These guidances consist of: four guidances regarding user fees for each type of …

    • FDA Updates “Least Burdensome” Guidance After 17 YearsOctober 11th, 2017

      Sponsors commonly receive a request for additional information (AI) during Food and Drug Administration (FDA) review of a 510(k) submission, de novo classification request, or premarket approval application. In some cases, a sponsor may conclude that one or more AI requests calls for information that …

    • FDA Finalizes Guidance on Evaluation and Reporting of Age-, Race-, and Ethnicity-Specific Data in Medical Device Clinical StudiesOctober 8th, 2017

      In July of last year, FDA released a draft guidance on evaluation and reporting of age-, race-, and ethnicity-specific data in medical device clinical studies (see our post on the draft guidance here). On September 12, 2017, FDA released the final version of this guidance. The …

    • FDA Finalizes Product Classification GuidanceOctober 3rd, 2017

      On September 26, 2017, FDA combined and finalized two Draft Guidance documents first issued in 2011 that set forth the Agency’s approach to classifying products as “drugs” or “devices” under the FDC Act § 201. In doing so, FDA trimmed significant portions of both Draft …

    • Court Deals Blow to Mysteriously Named Whistleblower, and Blows off PrecedentSeptember 27th, 2017

      Earlier this month, the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California dismissed a qui tam complaint filed against Medtronic and its subsidiaries alleging violations of the False Claims Act (FCA).  The relator (an LLC named “The Dan Abrams Company LLC” formed by a former …

    • CDRH Issues Final Guidance Regarding Interoperable Medical DevicesSeptember 24th, 2017

      On September 6, 2017, FDA issued the final guidance “Design Considerations and Pre-market Submission Recommendations for Interoperable Medical Devices.” The final guidance can be found here. The document provides guidance regarding interoperable devices, which it defines as devices “that have the ability to exchange and …

    • FDA to Hold Meeting on Home Collection of Pap Smears: Possible Broader Implications?September 21st, 2017

      The reduction in the rate of cervical cancer is one of the great success stories in public health.  The introduction of the Pap smear and human papillomavirus (HPV) testing has led to a significant reduction in the rate of cervical cancer.  However, there are still …

    • Webinar: FDA Medical Device Submissions – You’ve Got Legal Questions – We Have the ExpertSeptember 19th, 2017

      Hyman, Phelps & McNamara, P.C.'s Jeffrey N. Gibbs has teamed up with MassMEDIC and Right Submission to bring you a free webinar, titled "FDA Medical Device Submissions – You’ve Got Legal Questions – We Have the Expert," that focuses on legal questions you might have relative to FDA product …

    • FDARA Enacted; HP&M Issues Detailed Summary and AnalysisSeptember 7th, 2017

      On August 18, 2017, President Trump signed into law the Food and Drug Administration Reauthorization Act of 2017 (“FDARA”).  In addition to reauthorizing and amending several drug and medical device provisions that were scheduled to sunset, FDARA also makes several changes to the law concerning …