Several senior managers at the Center for Devices and Radiological Health (CDRH) have been pushing the convergence between U.S. FDA and international quality systems standards, often with the claim that the two standards already are nearly completely aligned. However, Jack Garvey, CEO of Compliance Architects LLC, ran through a side-by-side comparison of ISO 13485 and Part 820 and maintained that the two standards are too conceptually and textually different to plausibly assert that they are 95% harmonized.

Opioid-related hazards with Alkermes plc’s combo drug ALKS-3831 – specifically, with the samidorphan element – and the significance of weight-gain reduction brought about by the tablet, which also includes olanzapine, became key topics in the joint meeting of the FDA’s Psychopharmacologic Drugs Advisory Committee and the Drug Safety and Risk Management Advisory Committee.

There are some U.S. FDA work items that have been hampered primarily by the COVID-19 pandemic, and some that have just proven difficult to push across the finish line. The FDA’s October 2018 draft guidance for premarket considerations for cybersecurity in medical devices might fall into that latter category, but the FDA’s Suzanne Schwartz said the agency will reissue another draft version of that guidance, which will be available sometime in early 2021.

CAJICA, Colombia – In a move to reduce bureaucratic procedures and fight backlogs, the Brazilian health care surveillance agency, Anvisa, softened its rules for the marketing authorization of class II medical devices in the Latin American country.