The U.S. FDA unveiled a proposal to once again reshuffle its operations, this time with a greater degree of emphasis on the function of the Office of Regulatory Affairs (ORA). Tim Philips, a consultant with Gardner Law and a former member of the FDA, told BioWorld that while these changes will likely yield some useful efficiencies, they might also dilute some of the more useful interaction between industry and FDA, a loss that may be keenly felt when it comes to matters such as FDA inspections.

Regulatory snapshots, including global submissions and approvals, clinical trial approvals and other regulatory decisions and designations: Becton, Dickinson and Company, Etiometry, Sirius Medical, Terumo.

The U.S. Army needed 10 months to award a contract following a July 2022 request for proposals for flow cytometry and other clinical lab equipment, but Beckman Coulter Inc., filed an appeal that protested the award to Sysmex America Inc., of Lincolnshire, Ill. Beckman Coulter argued that Sysmex should have been disqualified from the bidding for failing to provide a technically acceptable proposal, but the Government Accountability Office decreed that the company’s protest failed because it was not filed within the required 10 days post-award.

Regulatory snapshots, including global submissions and approvals, clinical trial approvals and other regulatory decisions and designations: Axial 3D, Imeka, Magnetiq-eye.

The U.S. Security and Exchange Commission’s final rule for disclosure of cybersecurity incidents would seem to weigh more heavily on device makers and their client hospitals than on other industries, particularly given that the draft rule required a four-day notification of any such events. The final rule retains that requirement to notify investors of any such breach within four days, although the SEC relented on the content of such disclosures to ease concerns about the potential for disclosures to amplify the cybersecurity threat.

Cardiologists have debated for some time whether obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) is a proven factor in a patient’s risk for heart disease, but the U.S. National Institutes of Health says newly published studies identify the specific mechanisms for this association. The studies offered data from more than 4,500 subjects and affirms the notion that OSA-driven hypoxia correlates well with the occurrence of a primary cardiovascular event, but the NIH says these findings need to be confirmed in another trial, hopefully one with enrollees whose OSA is deemed a high-risk version of the condition.

During the week of July 24, 2023, the FDA published several notifications of potentially elevated risks associated with medical devices, including a recall of a delivery sheath for the Amplatzer device by Abbott Laboratories. The agency also announced that Abiomed Inc. will provide a correction for the instructions for use (IFUs) for the Impella because of an issue seen when implanting the left ventricular assist device in patients with transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR) devices.

Regulatory snapshots, including global submissions and approvals, clinical trial approvals and other regulatory decisions and designations: Ultrasight.

Public companies registered with the U.S. SEC will soon have to disclose material cybersecurity incidents and annually report material information regarding their cybersecurity risk management, strategy and governance.