Welcome to the fall issue of RF Quarterly in which international experts from the US, EU, and Saudi Arabia examine quality and compliance and their governing regulations, with specific focus on data integrity, quality system design and management, current good manufacturing practice (cGMP), and postmarketing activities in relation to medical devices, pharmaceuticals, and biologics.   Pragmatism, integrity, and QMS Data reliability in all formats and parts of an o...

Introduction A quality management system (QMS) is one of the five medical device conformity assessment elements. 1 Manufacturers of medical devices are expected to implement, document, and maintain a QMS that “ensures the medical devices it designs, manufactures, and supplies to the market are safe, perform as intended, and comply with the relevant provisions of the regulations in the countries where the product is made available.” 2   Today, a QMS is seen as a ...

Long delayed — even before the COVID-19 pandemic — the US Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) proposed rule to harmonize its medical device Quality System Regulation (QSR) with the international standard, ISO 13485:2016, may finally see the light of day this year.   The much-anticipated proposed rule has been on FDA’s regulatory agenda for several years, and despite COVID-related delays, it is back on track, Jeff Shuren, director of the Center for Devices and Radiolog...

The Association for the Advancement of Medical Instrumentation (AAMI) this week released a technical information report to help the medical device industry prepare for the revision of 21 CFR 820 (also known as the quality system regulation), which will harmonize with ISO 13485:2016 later this year. The most recent regulatory agenda says that sometime this month the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) will issue a proposed rulemaking on the harmonization and moderniz...

Ahead of the proposed shift away from the current US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) quality management system (QMS) CFR 21 Part 820 regulation toward ISO 13485:2016, a new white paper sheds light on how the action will impact medical device development. The white paper identified three interrelated principles that will define the direction of the agency’s process, which has yet to be clearly defined, after the transition . These principles relate to the concept of ...

The three-year transition period for ISO 13485:2016 officially ended Thursday and as of Friday all ISO 13485:2003 certificates are now null and void, regardless of their original expiration date. The role of the revised standard plays into major regulatory initiatives worldwide aimed at international harmonization. Both the 2003 and the 2016 version of the global consensus standard—developed by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO—co-existed until Thu...

From a transition to the global standard for quality management systems (QMS) to the revamping of premarket review pathways in the US, the medical device industry can expect to see at least some regulatory initiatives that 2018 set in motion come to fruition in 2019.   The Center for Devices and Radiological Health (CDRH) at the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has released  its list of guidances, indicating which topics will take precedence for 2019 policy cla...

Health Canada released draft guidance Thursday to aid manufacturers in preparing license applications for implantable medical devices produced by additive manufacturing or 3D-printing.   The guidance “represents the first phase of 3D-printing policy in Canada” because Health Canada intends to continuously adapt its policies to emerging issues on the topic “due to the fast-changing technological environment,” the regulator said.   3D-printed medical devices may be s...

Following the new outcome meeting statement posted Monday by the management committee of the International Medical Device Regulators Forum (IMDRF), Focus obtained insights into upcoming revisions to the global standard for quality management systems (QMS), ISO 13485.   The outcome statement from the September IMDRF meeting in Beijing, China points to a decision made by the management committee to issue a position statement to the International Organization for Standa...

This article covers how the new ISO 13485 standard 1 affects risk management for suppliers. The 2016 revision to ISO 13485 may have profound implications for the medical device industry. The updated standard will alter the way device makers interact with suppliers, from supplier selection to the management of supplier relationships. What the new Standard Says About Risk One particularly notable change with ISO 13485:2016 2 is the addition of more explicit ris...

This article covers how the new ISO 13485 standard 1 affects risk management for suppliers. The 2016 revision to ISO 13485 may have profound implications for the medical device industry. The updated standard will alter the way device makers interact with suppliers, from supplier selection to the management of supplier relationships. What the new Standard Says About Risk One particularly notable change with ISO 13485:2016 2 is the addition of more explicit ris...

Speaking at RAPS' 2016 Regulatory Convergence, leading medical device quality systems expert and former FDA official, Kim Trautman, urged attendees to begin their transition to the recently released ISO 13485:2016 as soon as possible. Trautman, who left her position as associate director for international affairs at FDA's Center for Devices and Radiological Health (CDRH) for a position at NSF International earlier this year, was instrumental in writing FDA's 1996 Quality...