This post is the first in a series of three in which we recap the Food and Drug Administration’s somewhat difficult year, having spent the majority of it without a permanent Commissioner and facing a slew of political and...more
12/5/2019
/ 21st Century Cures Act ,
Clinical Laboratories ,
Digital Health ,
Draft Guidance ,
Food and Drug Administration (FDA) ,
Laboratory Developed Tests ,
Life Sciences ,
Medical Devices ,
Regulatory Agenda ,
Regulatory Oversight ,
Statutory Authority
On September 26, 2019, FDA released a suite of revised digital health guidances, which includes the following:
- Changes to Existing Medical Software Policies Resulting from Section 3060 of the 21st Century Cures Act...more
10/10/2019
/ 21st Century Cures Act ,
CDS ,
Comment Period ,
Digital Health ,
Draft Guidance ,
Food and Drug Administration (FDA) ,
Health Care Providers ,
International Medical Device Regulators Forum (IMDRF) ,
Medical Devices ,
Medical Software ,
Patients ,
Public Comment ,
Regulatory Requirements ,
Software Developers
On August 8, 2019, FDA issued a notice on its medical device recall database stating that a company called Opternative, Inc. had initiated a recall for the Visibly Online Refractive Vision Test, a software application offered...more
In December, my colleague Aaron Josephson and I described our observations after attending FDA’s public workshop on Medical Device Servicing and Remanufacturing Activities. In this post, I want to share some additional...more
As 2019 quickly approaches, we would like to take a few moments to reflect on the past year of Food and Drug Administration activities and certain big ticket items that made news in 2018. As the Magic 8-Ball would say: “signs...more
12/31/2018
/ 21st Century Cures Act ,
510(k) RTA ,
Biosimilars ,
CMMI ,
Comment Period ,
Cybersecurity ,
Digital Health ,
Draft Guidance ,
FDA De Novo Clearance ,
Food and Drug Administration (FDA) ,
Medical Devices ,
Pharmaceutical Industry ,
Popular ,
Prescription Drugs ,
Regulatory Agenda ,
Software Developers
On December 10-11, 2018, FDA hosted a public workshop, Medical Device Servicing and Remanufacturing Activities, as part of its effort to develop a draft guidance that will distinguish servicing activities from...more
On October 18, 2018, FDA released a new draft guidance, Content of Premarket Submissions for Management of Cybersecurity in Medical Devices, which describes the Agency’s current thinking and recommendations on designing...more
In 2017, FDA issued only 44 Warning Letters to medical device establishments. Of those, 11 were related to pre-market issues, which include investigational device exemption violations or lack of approval or clearance. Only 33...more
This is the third installment of our year-in-review series covering major developments at FDA. While the previous two installments, pertain to FDA actions on drugs and biologics, this post will address developments related...more
12/27/2017
/ 510(k) RTA ,
CLIA ,
De Novo Standard of Review ,
Digital Health ,
Draft Guidance ,
FDA Approval ,
Federal Pilot Programs ,
Food and Drug Administration (FDA) ,
Manufacturers ,
Medical Devices ,
Pharmaceutical Industry ,
Software ,
Standard of Review
This is our third installment in our series about the legal issues involved in launching a health app, which the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (“FDA”) refers to as “mobile apps.” The goal of this post is to provide you...more
10/3/2017
/ 21st Century Cures Act ,
Electronic Medical Records ,
Final Guidance ,
Food and Drug Administration (FDA) ,
Health Care Providers ,
Medical Devices ,
Medical Records ,
Mobile Apps ,
Mobile Health Apps ,
Pharmaceutical Industry ,
Regulatory Oversight
As 2017 began, FDA appeared poised to implement significant changes to the rules governing off-label communications related to drugs, biologics, and medical devices. The Agency had hosted a public hearing in November 2016 to...more
4/14/2017
/ Amended Rules ,
Biologics ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Final Rules ,
First Amendment ,
Food and Drug Administration (FDA) ,
Medical Devices ,
Off-Label Promotion ,
Pharmaceutical Industry ,
Prescription Drugs ,
Public Hearing ,
Trump Administration
Since the 21st Century Cures Act became law on December 13, 2016, we have been blogging on regulatory and clinical areas affected by its provisions. On March 14, 2017, FDA made further progress on its Cures Act obligations by...more
From 2015 to 2016, FDA appeared to open the door to loosening the standards around intended use and off-label use, but recent rule-making and public comments suggest that FDA is becoming more sclerotic instead of flexible....more
2/20/2017
/ Citizen Petitions ,
First Amendment ,
Food and Drug Administration (FDA) ,
Healthcare Reform ,
Labeling ,
Medical Devices ,
Midnight Rules Relief ,
Off-Label Promotion ,
Off-Label Use ,
Pharmaceutical Industry ,
Qui Tam ,
Rulemaking Process ,
Transition Team ,
Trump Administration
As we noted in our December 9th post, the 21st Century Cures Act (the “Cures Act”) requires FDA to develop a framework and guidance for evaluating real world evidence (“RWE”) in the context of drug regulation to support...more
As we’ve previously reported, FDA has recently been forced to reexamine its legal position and enforcement policies related to drug and device manufacturers’ off-label communications. Although the Agency has for years...more
On November 7, 2016, FDA announced in the Federal Register its plan to research methods for including risk information about pharmaceutical and medical device products in promotional Internet communications that have...more
The summer of 2016 saw a flood of new medical device-related guidance documents coming out of FDA’s Center for Devices and Radiological Health (CDRH). Some of these draft guidance documents, such as those addressing device...more
On October 14, 2016, FDA released draft guidance entitled Software as a Medical Device (SaMD): Clinical Evaluation (the “SaMD Draft Guidance”). The draft guidance was prepared by the SaMD Working Group of the International...more
The Regulatory Affairs Professionals Society (RAPS) held its annual Convergence conference last week in San Jose. The event certainly illustrated RAPS’s global influence given that the attendees represented many of the...more
FDA released two new draft guidances on Monday, August 8 in an attempt to help device manufacturers determine when a modification triggers the obligation to file a new 510(k) under 21 C.F.R. § 807.81(a)(3). The first draft...more
As an update to my post on Friday, April 22, FDA has extended the deadline for comments on third-party servicing of medical devices. According to FDA’s notice of extension, comments are now due by June 3, 2016....more
On March 4, 2016, the FDA issued notice in the Federal Register that it had opened a docket to accept comments on the agency’s proposed plan to address the refurbishing, remarketing, rebuilding, remanufacturing, and servicing...more