The European Commission recently published the results of a study of the impact of the EU regulatory environment, which confirmed the worst fears of some observers about the situation in the EU. The report said that the associated challenges are prompting small and medium companies to pull at least one product out of inventory for the EU market, with some companies abandoning the EU altogether.
The EU’s still-new regulations for medical devices and in vitro diagnostics are often seen as drivers of current or impending shortages of these products, but Oliver Eikenberg of regulatory consultancy Pure Global is unimpressed by such claims. Eikenberg said much of the drag on the EU system is engendered by device makers that are failing to get their regulatory affairs in order – a problem neither Brussels nor the notified bodies can fix.
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 European Parliament (EP) has passed the Artificial Intelligence Act (AI Act), bringing the legislation one step closer to full passage into law, with passage by the European Council the only remaining hurdle.
The European Commission (EC) has proposed another delay in the compliance deadlines for the In Vitro Diagnostic Regulation (IVDR) that eases the existing timelines by roughly two and a half years. The news was welcomed by Medtech Europe, which nonetheless pressed the EC and others to patch up some of the issues that led to the new extensions in the first place.
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 European Council applied its seal of approval to a proposal to extend the deadlines for the Medical Device Regulation (MDR), providing industry some critical breathing room to obtain certification for devices brought to market under the legacy Medical Device Directive (MDD).
The European Parliament (EP) has voted to affirm the proposal by the European Commission (EC) to extend the compliance timelines for the Medical Device Regulation (MDR) in an urgent vote that eliminated any chance of debate. The vote was a landslide, coming in at 564 votes in support and three nays.
The European Union’s Medical Device Regulation (MDR) and In Vitro Diagnostic Regulation (IVDR) each allow a hospital to develop a device or an in vitro diagnostic for use solely in that hospital, but there is no regulatory free pass despite the lack of commercial intent. While the latest guidance on these in-house tests acknowledges that the hospital must determine the degree to which it must comply with the relevant regulation, any hospital that makes and uses an in-house diagnostic or device must develop a risk management mechanism for that device or diagnostic, not an easy lift for entities that may be glancingly familiar at best with conventional regulatory schemes.
