The EU’s Artificial Intelligence (AI) Act is still in the thick of the legislative process, which seems likely to ladle even more regulatory liabilities onto AI software used for medical purposes. Bodo Wiegand, senior advisory at Viopsy, told attendees at a May 18 webinar that between the promise of yet more regulation along with existing coverage and reimbursement hurdles in the EU, developers of medical software are considering whether they should steer clear of developments that qualify as AI simply because of the extraordinary time and expense associated with generating revenues for these projects.
A surgical navigation platform developed by Proprio Inc., that is intended to replace traditional surgical technologies which produce harmful radiation and can impede surgical workflow, won U.S. FDA 510 (k) clearance.
Abbott Laboratories received U.S. FDA approval for an expanded indication for its spinal cord stimulator (SCS) devices to include treatment of chronic back pain for individuals who have not had or are ineligible for back surgery. The FDA based its decision on the positive results from the DISTINCT study which showed that 85.2% of patients implanted with the SCS devices achieved significant reduction in back pain compared to 7.1% of those who received conservative medical management.
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) reported that Royal Philips NV will pay more than $62 million in connection with “irregularities in the medical device industry” related to its Chinese subsidiaries. The charges arise from actions that occurred between 2014 and 2019 from sales of medical diagnostic equipment in China.
Quantum Surgical SAS has obtained an extension to the FDA authorization covering its Epione robot, which can now treat abdominal cancers. “This decision now allows physicians to treat all abdominal tumors at an early stage and will ramp implementation of our Epione robotics solution in the U.S.,” said Bertin Nahum, CEO and co-founder of Quantum Surgical. Marketed in Europe and the U.S., the Epione robot has already been used to treat more than 150 patients with liver or kidney cancer.
Centricity Vision Inc. received U.S. FDA clearance for technology designed to integrate with modern phacoemulsification or “phaco” systems that use ultrasound energy to emulsify the eye's native internal lens during cataract surgery. Centricity’s new Zeptolink interocular lens (IOL) positioning system is used in conjunction with phaco systems to surgically remove the natural lens of the eye as the first step in cataract surgery.
An increasing number of European med-tech companies are first seeking regulatory approval from the U.S. FDA because of the growing backlog and frustrations with requirements under the new regulatory framework of the EU Medical Device Regulation (MDR), which has been described as “not working.”
The recent decision by the EU to delay the implementation dates for the Medical Device Regulation (MDR) initiative is having ripple effects across the globe as other regulatory jurisdictions amend their policies to keep pace. The U.K. Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) and Australia’s Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) have both revised their strategies to align with the latest MDR delay, giving devices that will remain available in the EU a similar extension in the U.K. and Australia.
The regulatory record for successful replacements of the human meniscus is thin, but the latest attempt came up short as a U.S. FDA advisory committee voted 6-2 that the benefits of the Nusurface device by Active Implants LLC did not present an acceptable benefit-risk ratio. The device is commercially available in both the European Union and in Israel, however, suggesting that Memphis, Tenn.-based Active will not give up on the massive U.S. market, which offers a patient population that will undergo a tsunami of total knee replacements in the decades ahead unless a solution for the epidemic of cartilage degeneration can be found.
Citing significant concerns of bacterial contamination, the FDA urged consumers and health care providers to stop using specific lots of SD Biosensor Inc.’s Pilot COVID-19 At-Home Tests, which were distributed by Roche Diagnostics Systems Inc. The agency warned that direct contact with the contaminated liquid solution could pose safety issues as well as impair the test’s performance.
