The UK Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (“MHRA”) has published Guidance on the regulation of medical devices from 1 January 2021 (the “Guidance”). It discusses the regulatory requirements that apply to medical devices after the end of the Brexit transitional period under the EU-UK Withdrawal Agreement. In summary: From 1 January 2021, different rules … Continue Reading
The European Commission published today its proposal for the European Parliament and the Council to postpone the application date of the Medical Devices Regulation 2017/745 (“MDR”) by one year. This publication comes only 9 days after the Commission announced its plans to postpone the MDR (see the InsideEULifeSciences blog post here). The European Parliament and … Continue Reading
The European Commission has recently issued Guidance on using the public procurement framework in the emergency situation related to the COVID-19 crisis. The Guidance is intended to highlight to Member State authorities the flexibilities available to them under the EU public procurement framework and in particular the Public Procurement Directive 2014/24/EU. The Guidance highlights the … Continue Reading
The European Commission has announced today that it is working on a proposal to postpone the application date of the Medical Devices Regulation 2017/745 (“MDR”) for one year. This proposal is to relieve the pressure on national authorities, notified bodies, manufacturers and other actors so they can focus on responding to the COVID-19 outbreak. According … Continue Reading
The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (“MHRA”) has published a specification for a “Rapidly Manufactured Ventilator System” (“RMVS”), setting out the clinical requirements for a ‘minimally acceptable’ ventilator for use in hospitals during the COVID-19 outbreak (the “RMVS Specification”). The purpose of the RMVS Specification is to meet the UK healthcare system’s increased demand … Continue Reading
France’s medicines regulator, the Agence Nationale de Sécurité du Médicament et des Produits de Santé (ANSM), has released draft guidelines, currently subject to a public consultation, setting out recommendations for manufacturers designed to help prevent cybersecurity attacks to medical devices. Notably, the draft guidelines are the first instance of recommendations released by a national regulator … Continue Reading
On 26 February, the UK’s Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) published further guidance (available here) setting out the anticipated regulation of medical devices in the UK, should the UK leave the EU without a deal (Guidance). This Guidance will apply from ‘exit day’ (expected to be 11 p.m. 29 March 2019) subject to … Continue Reading
This article was originally posted on our sister blog Global Policy Watch Introduction Health technology assessment (“HTA”) is a multidisciplinary assessment process that seeks to evaluate the added therapeutic value of health technologies (i.e., drugs, certain medical devices, medical treatments including surgical procedures, and measures for disease prevention and diagnosis) based on both clinical and … Continue Reading
On 11 November 2016, the German Parliament passed another new law amending different parts of the German Medicines Act (Arzneimittelgesetz) and the Act on Advertising for Healthcare Products (Heilmittelwerbegesetz). The law is titled “Viertes Gesetz zur Änderung arzneimittelrechtlicher und anderer Vorschriften“. The draft was deliberated in the health committee of the Federal Council (Bundesrat) on … Continue Reading
This article was originally posted on our sister blog Inside Medical Devices On October 5, 2015, after three years of continued discussions and negotiations on the modernization of EU medical devices and IVD rules, the Council of Ministers of the EU countries (“the Council”) agreed on a full General Approach on the review of the … Continue Reading
This article was originally published on our sister blog InsidePrivacy May 2015 saw a number of developments in the EU mHealth sector worthy of a brief mention. The European Commission announced that it would work on new guidance for mHealth apps, despite the European Data Protection Supervisor and British Standards Institution publishing their own just … Continue Reading
A more detailed analysis of the impact of the work at the CJEU is featured in Clinica Medtech Intelligence. Liability Spotlight now on the Notified Bodies Background and Context The so-called PIP-Breast-implant scandal now reaches the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU). As last week a German court referred a liability case to … Continue Reading
On 4 February 2015, the German Ministry of Justice published a new draft law specifically aimed to combat corruption in the healthcare sector. Key element of the draft legislation will be a newly defined criminal offence that will be inserted as a new Section 299a of the German Criminal Code (StGB). This new criminal offence … Continue Reading
The European Commission’s Borderline and Classification Medical Devices Expert Group has published a new version of its Manual on Borderline and Classification in the Community Regulatory Framework for Medical Devices. The updated manual includes a new section on software and mobile applications reflecting the growing industry of medical device software. The manual also provides new … Continue Reading
Last month, the International Medical Device Regulators Forum (IMDRF) reached a consensus on a potentially key aspect of the future regulation of medical software in the US, the EU, Brazil, Canada and Japan, that is, a harmonized definition of when stand-alone software will be considered to be a medical device. This category of software, dubbed … Continue Reading
A call for expression of interest addressed to healthcare product developers who would be interested in engaging in early dialogues (EDs) with Health Technology Assessment (HTA) bodies was launched in December 2013 and will stay open until October 2014. The call concerns developers of both medicinal products and medical devices. The European Commission defines HTA … Continue Reading
This post originally appeared on our sister blog, InsideMedicalDevices. At the end of May 2013, the French government released the long awaited Decree implementing the 2011 French Sunshine Act. The Decree requires companies to publicly disclose — in French — any benefit over 10 Euros and agreements (except commercial ones) concluded with healthcare professionals or other actors active in the … Continue Reading
The Spanish Ministry of Health has published a draft Royal Decree on Clinical Trials, which the Spanish government is expected to adopt by the end of this year. Once adopted, the new Royal Decree will replace Royal Decree 223/2004 on Clinical Trials and will regulate all clinical trials with medicines and medical devices in Spain. … Continue Reading
On May 30, 2013, Advocate General Sharpston delivered an opinion on a request for a preliminary ruling from the Finnish national courts concerning the laws governing reclassification of medical devices (Advocate General: Opinion, Case C-109/12). The Advocate General’s opinion does not bind the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU). However, in the majority … Continue Reading
On 5 April, 2013 the European Commission adopted a recommendation on a common framework for a unique device identification (UDI) system in the EU. The hope is that a harmonized UDI system will facilitate device safety monitoring and reporting, recalls and other field safety corrective actions. It will also help avoid device-related medical errors and injuries … Continue Reading
This post originally appeared on our sister blog, InsideMedicalDevices. Unlike in the US, medical devices in the EU are not subject to a premarket authorization by a competent authority but instead to a conformity assessment procedure. For low-risk devices, the manufacturer conducts this conformity assessment procedure, whereas for medium and high risk devices, independent third parties, so-called “Notified … Continue Reading
This post originally appeared on our sister blog, InsideMedicalDevices. Following recent developments regarding breast implants and metal-on-metal hip joint replacements, the European Parliament (EP) adopted a resolution calling for safer medical devices and the introduction of a marketing authorization system for high-risk devices. While the Commission has not endorsed the EP’s resolution for a premarket authorization system in its Proposal for a new EU medical devices’ … Continue Reading
This post originally appeared on our sister blog, InsideMedicalDevices. The General Medical Council in the UK has issued new prescribing guidance for doctors that includes detailed provisions on prescribing medical devices and managing patients using medical devices. The GMC’s previous guidance was focused almost exclusively on medicines. The new guidance recognizes that medical devices — particularly software-based devices … Continue Reading
Article originally published in the FDLI Update (January/February 2013) “Being able to use innovative products at the earliest possible time – and in Europe we deliver innovation about three years before our American counterparts with their own system – is a benefit to patients that we cannot put aside.” This is how former European Union … Continue Reading
