The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on 5 July issued two draft guidances covering the implementation of the Drug Supply Chain Security Act (DSCSA); one addresses the use of electronic standards for tracing products through the pharmaceutical supply chain, while the other guidance pertains to identifying trading partners that are authorized to track products though the supply chain.   The agency announced that “these documents are critical steps toward implement...

The US Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) Center for Drug Evaluation and Research (CDER) recently issued two revised documents for its Manual of Policies and Procedures (MAPP): one addresses updated procedures for its data standards program and the other covers operational procedures for scientific interest groups (SIG).   The 10-page MAPP on data standards governance discusses the operating model to support the implementation of CDER’s data standards program. It r...

Although third-party audit, certification, and retail standard programs highlight reputable companies and help ensure that dietary supplements on store shelves are safe and unadulterated, multiple standards create a complicated patchwork of requirements that are difficult for manufacturers and consumers to navigate. Responsible industry has emphasized the need to harmonize standards by eliminating duplicative, costly testing and allowing retailers to confirm a manufacturer...

The European Commission this week adopted a new standardization request for harmonized European standards in support of the Medical Device Regulation (MDR) and In Vitro Diagnostic Regulation (IVDR) after its initial standardization request was rejected last year.   In a commission implementing decision dated 14 April 2021, the Commission calls on the European Committee for Standardization (CEN) and the European Committee for Electrotechnical Standardization (CENE...

In an important step in the rollout of its accreditation scheme for conformity assessment (ASCA) pilot, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) this week published its initial list of accredited testing laboratories participating in the program.   The pilot, which arose out of the negotiations for the current Medical Device User Fee Amendments (MDUFA IV) program, is meant to increase “consistency, predictability and efficiency” during the premarket review of medica...

The modified list of standards published on Wednesday is meant to assist medical device manufacturers that elect to declare conformity with consensus standards to meet certain US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) requirements. Back in 1997, the Food and Drug Administration Modernization Act allowed FDA to recognize consensus standards developed by national and international organizations to satisfy certain portions of device premarket review submissions or other requ...

The European Coordination Committee of the Radiological, Electromedical and Healthcare IT Industry (COCIR) issued a position paper on Tuesday to facilitate the harmonization of medical device standards. COCIR’s position paper set forth six recommendations on harmonizing device standards, citing an array of existing challenges such as the assessment process and the fixed publication schedule. Harmonized standards need revision to reflect changes to and increased regul...

Responding to a letter from Sen. Mark Warner (D-VA) that called for a collaborative effort to advance cybersecurity in health care, medical device industry group AdvaMed sought to ease concerns about the impact of cyber attacks with updates on industry and regulators’ moves in line with its five principles. The industry trade association’s board of directors adopted the set of five medical device cybersecurity principles in 2017 to drive best practices across its member...

With less than a month remaining before the UK exits the EU, the UK’s National Institute for Biological Standards and Control (NIBSC) on Thursday provided an update in the event of a no-deal Brexit scenario.   In the update, the NIBSC, which produces and distributes a wide range of biological reference materials and functions as the UK’s official medicines control laboratory for biological products, says that while a Brexit deal “remains the Government’s top priority”...

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...

Medical device industry group AdvaMed and the Association for the Advancement of Medical Instrumentation (AAMI) are seeking additional information from the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on draft guidance related to the recognition and withdrawal of voluntary consensus standards. The 8-page draft from September describes the procedures that FDA follows and the actions the agency may take during its review and evaluation of requests for standards recognition or ...

Safety science firm UL is honing in on the cybersecurity of connected medical devices, suggesting a two-pronged approach that spans across the total product life cycles of devices and the healthcare ecosystem.   UL began wading into healthcare as it increasingly became a prime target for cyber attacks in recent years, Anura Fernando, UL chief innovation architect of medical systems interoperability and security, told Focus . Factors that drove its decision to join the...