After enactment of the Medical Device Amendments of 1976, which established three regulatory classes for medical devices, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has been required to classify all medical devices into Class I,...more
On September 6, 2023, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) released a trio of draft guidances in its efforts to “strengthen and modernize” the 510(k) Program and provide for more “predictability, consistency, and...more
The FDA implemented the breakthrough device program in 2015. The program was designed to expedite review of premarket approval (PMA), 510(k) clearance, and De Novo marketing authorizations. Applicants can seek a breakthrough...more
When it comes to discussing medical devices regulated by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), words such as “approved” and “cleared” cannot be used interchangeably as these terms carry a particular meaning....more
Is the decision to submit a 510(k) application versus a Premarket Application (PMA) at the sole discretion of a medical device manufacturer? The answer is not always clear to product liability lawyers, judges, and juries. FDA...more
On Monday, November 15, 2021, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced that the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) repealed a policy established by the Trump administration that directed the FDA not to...more
In one of the last proposed notices from the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) under the Trump administration, HHS removed the 510(k) premarket notification requirement for seven types of gloves and proposed...more
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced that it is soliciting participation in a voluntary pilot program for streamlining electronic submissions for 510(k) premarket notifications for medical devices other than...more
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) had regulated medical image analyzers for more than 20 years under the agency’s most stringent regulatory requirements. But the agency recently reclassified a subset of these device...more
The legal definitions of a drug and a medical device set forth in the Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act have some important overlapping provisions. Because of the overlapping provisions, theoretically the U.S. Food and Drug...more
The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) allows for a trademark application to be filed on an “Intent to Use” basis to establish a priority date before the mark is actually “used in commerce.” However, such use in...more
Implications for 510(k) Submissions - On September 20, 2019, FDA issued four separate draft guidance documents for industry and FDA administration staff that provide extensive objective performance criteria (OPC) for five...more
On September 9, 2019, the Food and Drug Administration released a final guidance document, Acceptance Review for De Novo Classification Requests, to clarify the content that companies need to include in de novo requests to...more
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has issued two new guidance documents related respectively to an “abbreviated” and a “special” approach to the typical 510(K) process for medical devices....more
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) recently finalized its guidance on the Special 510(k) Program—an optional pathway to commercial medical devices that have been modified since their previous 510(k) clearance. The Special...more
Thirty-two days into the longest government shutdown in U.S. history, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA or the agency) announced two developments signaling further headway toward advancing its previously reported goal to...more
On November 26, 2018, FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb, M.D. and the Director of the Center for Devices and Radiological Health, Jeff Shuren, M.D., J.D. announced FDA’s intention to take multiple actions in the near future to...more
On 20 November 2018 Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Commissioner Scott Gottlieb and Center for Devices and Radiological Health (CDRH) Director Jeffrey Shuren released a joint statement regarding updates to the Medical...more
FDA's "510(k)" process, by which a medical device manufacturer can bring a product to market based on the premise that the proposed device is the substantially equivalent to a an already legally marketed "predicate device",...more
On November 26, 2018, FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb and device center director Jeff Shuren issued a statement outlining a plan to modernize the 510(k) premarket review program to bolster medical device safety. The 510(k)...more
In a recent report, the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services (HHS) Office of the Inspector General (OIG) recommended that the U.S. Food & Drug Administration (FDA) include cybersecurity review as a greater part of the...more
Over the past couple of years, FDA has introduced multiple programs allowing faster review of medical devices in order to get them to market more quickly. Some of the FDA’s efforts have been highly visible, such as the...more
Consumer demand for digital health care devices has soared, and it shows no signs of slowing down. But when bringing these devices to market, companies in the digital health space are confronted with numerous challenges. ...more
The Central District of California recently dismissed, for the second time, a putative class action filed by two plaintiffs who claimed to have purchased Zeltiq Aesthetics, Inc.’s “CoolSculpting” fat-reduction treatments...more
Building on recent efforts to streamline premarket review of medical devices, on April 12, 2018, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) issued a draft guidance seeking to expand use of the historically underutilized...more