Reliance may be the regulatory buzzword of the moment, but mutual recognition agreements between regulators are much more near and dear to the hearts of device makers. Richard Phillips, director of strategy for Association of British Health Tech Industries Ltd., told an audience of device makers that the U.K. is considering recognition of devices approved and cleared by the FDA, although Phillips said such recognition for 510(k) devices might be less than a simple exercise.
The U.K. government said it will take action to tackle potential bias in the design and use of medical devices after an independent review found that there is extensive evidence of poorer performance of certain technologies, like pulse oximeters, in patients with darker skin tones.
The controversy over the use of paclitaxel (PTX) in devices used to treat peripheral artery disease (PAD) has taken roughly half a decade to unwind as regulatory agencies across the globe stand down their restrictions on the use of these devices.
The U.K. Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency finalized its plans for an overhaul of its med-tech regulatory system in a comprehensive approach that captures both in vitro diagnostics and artificial intelligence.
The U.K. Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) has converted its regulatory sandbox for artificial intelligence (AI) into a full-fledged program dubbed the AI-Airlock, described as a regulatory-monitored virtual area in which industry can “generate robust evidence for their advanced technologies.” MHRA said it is focused on ensuring that AI products are available in the U.K. “before they are available anywhere else in the world,” a sign that national economic competitiveness is fostering a regulatory willingness to deal with uncertainty about this class of products.
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.
Bringing notified bodies (NBs) into a med-tech regulatory system has proven to be no mean feat in the European Union, but the U.K. Medicines and Health Care Products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) seems not to suffer from such impediments. The agency just added several in vitro diagnostic (IVD) technological areas to the roster of tests that can be reviewed by UL International UK, an addition that will help ensure patients can obtain the tests they need.
The U.K. Medicines and Healthcare products Agency (MHRA) reported a trio of research projects as part of a push to maintain its reputation as a leading regulator of drugs and medical devices now the U.K. is no longer part of EU regulatory systems, and to attract clinical trials - and the associated inward investment - despite no longer offering access to the EU single market.
In an era of ever-increasing change in regulation of medical devices, the 2021 draft regulatory proposal by the U.K.’s Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) might have seemed like an invitation to regulatory balkanization. However, MHRA said the responses to the draft proposal indicated widespread support for “international collaboration with like-minded regulators,” thus reassuring industry that their developmental devices won’t face an entirely new set of barriers to access to a market of more than 67 million.
The U.K. Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) is still considering a drastic overhaul of the 2002 medical device regulatory framework, but may have sent a signal that its new framework won’t deviate too far from established regulatory approaches.
