Mirvie Inc. has secured U.S. FDA breakthrough device designation for its pre-eclampsia risk test. The blood test combines machine learning and liquid biopsy technology to provide an RNA profile that predicts pregnancy risks before symptoms occur. It is the first test to be recognized by the FDA for the early identification of pre-eclampsia.
Orthofix Medical Inc. continues to expand its bone growth product line with a new premarket approval from the FDA for its Accelstim bone healing therapy device. Indicated for certain fresh fractures and fractures that have not healed, the device uses low-intensity pulsed ultrasound to stimulate the natural healing process. The company plans to take a phased approach to the launch, which will begin within weeks.
The attempt by the U.S. FDA to harmonize its Quality System Regulation (QSR) with ISO 13485 promises to be a difficult slog, but Jeff Shuren, director of the agency’s device center, said the agency is flexible on the proposed one-year implementation deadline. However, Shuren also noted that the draft rule would not be converted into a final rule at any point during the current calendar year, leaving device makers with an extended term of uncertainty.
Samsara Vision Inc. has received FDA approval to begin a U.S.-based PMA supplement trial to assess improvements in visual acuity and safety of its smaller-incision next-generation implantable miniature telescope, called SING IMT, in people with late-stage age-related macular degeneration (AMD). The device has been available in the EU since 2020.
Citing the flexibilities implemented during the COVID-19 pandemic, the Bloomberg New Economy International Cancer Coalition is pushing to convert those improvements to a permanent paradigm shift in the way cancer patients are diagnosed, treated and cared for across the globe.
The FDA’s device center issued a safety communication advising that non-invasive genetic prenatal screening tests that are used to establish whether a fetus has a genetic abnormality can yield incorrect results. The problem stems in part from the fact that the agency has not yet reviewed any such tests, which are often administered as lab-developed tests (LDTs).
The Medicare new technology add-on (NTAP) program is a vital source of reimbursement rates for novel technologies, and several NTAP applications were extended by a year in 2021 because of the COVID-19 pandemic. That extension is set to expire for several key products, including the Eluvia drug eluting stent by Boston Scientific Corp., of Marlborough, Mass., and the Spinejack system by Stryker Corp., of Kalamazoo, Mich., forcing these companies to amortize their R&D costs at a more conventional pace.
Negotiations between the U.S. FDA and industry over device user fees were a protracted struggle, but the agency was demonstrably loathe to post the minutes from meetings between the agency and industry representatives. Jeff Shuren, director of the FDA’s device center, said in a congressional hearing that those minutes were not posted because of a need to wrap up the negotiations rather than allow outsiders – including members of Congress – to see how difficult the negotiations had become.
The European Commission has acted to thwart cybersecurity risks with a proposed cybersecurity regulation and separate proposal for information security. What is not clear, however, from these proposals is whether they would interact with existing EU rules governing cybersecurity for medical devices, raising the prospect that medical technologies will be subject duplicate oversight for cybersecurity.
Shenzhen Xzing Technology Co. Ltd.’s Endofresh disposable upper gastrointestinal (GI) endoscope has granted the NMPA’s class II approval. The company said the approved product is used for upper gastrointestinal GI endoscopy, diagnosis and treatment.
