Medical device supply chain considerations became especially salient during the COVID-19 pandemic, but the U.S. FDA is interested in ensuring that supply chains do not hamper patient access going forward. However, Clayton Hall of the Medical Device Manufacturers Association (MDMA) said on a recent FDA webinar that device makers are sometimes at the mercy of their suppliers.
Biocartis Group NV received CE-marking of its Idylla Gene Fusion lung cancer biomarker test. The automated panel is designed to detect chromosomal translocations that generate fusion genes and cause non-small-lung cancer (NSCLC). Mechelen, Belgium-based diagnostics company Biocartis recently reported results from a study that found the assay enables rapid screening with quicker turnaround and lower tissue requirements compared to standard methods.
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.
China will continue to ramp up volume-based procurement (VBP) policies that bring down drug and device prices for public hospitals with volume. Governmental agencies at the local and national levels coordinate drug prices via government-organized procurement programs that include VBP and pricing negotiations for inclusion on the National Reimbursable Drug List.
Regulatory snapshots, including global drug submissions and approvals, clinical trial approvals and other regulatory decisions and designations: Acadia, Acepodia, BMS, Eli Lilly, Hepion, Moderna.
The U.S. FDA had previously recommended that power morcellation be conducted only with tissue containment systems and has released a draft guidance for non-clinical testing for these containment systems. While the demands for non-clinical testing are rigorous, the draft also said that clinical testing is likely to be required as well, raising the question of why the agency failed to include clinical testing recommendations in the same draft guidance.
The U.S. FDA may be the most advanced regulatory agency when it comes to artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML), but developers of these products still have little in the way of FDA guidance to work with in many instances. Cassie Scherer of Dublin-based Medtronic plc, told attendees at this year’s Food and Drug Law Institute annual conference that they should have a product change control protocol ready to go despite the absence of FDA guidance on the subject, an effort that will increase time to market but pay eventually big dividends.
The U.S. FTC isn’t waiting to complete its investigation into potentially anticompetitive practices of pharmacy benefit managers to crack down on some of those schemes.
Instead of “Mother, may I” for COVID-19 vaccines for children 6 months through 5 years of age, the U.S. CDC is saying the correct response is “I should.” That was the recommendation June 18 from the CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices. CDC Director Rochelle Walensky wasted no time in endorsing the recommendation, which came just a day after the FDA authorized the vaccines from Moderna Inc. and Pfizer Inc.-Biontech SE for babies, toddlers and preschoolers.
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