In 2025, the momentum behind robotic-assisted surgical systems continued to accelerate on the back of increasing demand for minimally invasive procedures. In many parts of the world, these technologies are reshaping surgical procedures by improving precision and efficiency through high resolution imaging, AI and refined instrument control. This is resulting in fewer complications, faster recovery and improved patient outcomes.

The U.S. FDA recently cleared Medtronic plc’s Hugo robotic-assisted surgery system and CMR Surgical Ltd.’s Versius Plus system, adding new options to the U.S. market to meet rising demand for robotic procedures. While Intuitive Surgical Inc. currently dominates the soft tissue surgical robotics space, these new entrants will provide hospitals and health care systems with greater choices when it comes to purchasing systems and expanding systems.

The U.S. FDA’s final guidance for clinical trial inspections conducted under the bioresearch monitoring (BiMo) program seems to deviate little if at all from the 2024 draft, but that is precisely the rub for some stakeholders. The Advanced Medical Technology Association pressed the agency to ensure that the final guidance takes into account the hazards of electronic access during remote BiMo audits, but the final guidance makes no such concessions.

Every year seems to introduce novel approaches to litigation when it comes to product liability and other theories of harm from medical devices, and 2025 was no exception. One of the more interesting cases was CLF 007 v. Cooper Surgical, which broke new ground for its handling of non-existent state legal precedent.

The new U.S. FDA leadership has broken with standing agency practice in several areas and in the latest move seeks to cut out the middleman in FDA contracting practices, a development that might aid small firms that are financed by venture capital.

The U.S. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services announced that several Medicare administrative contractors have formally withdrawn local coverage determinations for skin substitutes. There are questions, however, as to whether this will bring an end to excess spending on these products even though the agency has capped the rate paid for entire classes of products.

The U.S. Office of the National Coordinator has proposed to significantly whittle back the regulations pertaining to electronic health records, changes that would save small businesses significant sums in terms of compliance activities.

The U.S. FDA’s final rule for regulation of lab-developed tests was destined to be controversial at best and exceptionally susceptible to legal challenge according to more than one legal opinion. The inevitable legal challenge succeeded wildly in a decision rendered in district court in March 2025, marking one of the rare instances in which the courts thwarted FDA rulemaking and thus is easily the regulatory story of the year for 2025. Attempts to regulate AI in the U.S. and Europe also dominated the regulatory landscape.

Crescom Co. Ltd., an AI musculoskeletal imaging company, gained U.S. FDA 510(k) clearance Dec. 24 for MediAI-BA, its AI-powered pediatric and adolescent bone age analysis software. Classified as a class II medical device, MediAI-BA evaluates bone age and suggests predicted adult height based on growth plate status assessed by hand and wrist X-ray imaging. Prior clinical trial results demonstrated MediAI-BA had specialist-level accuracy, recording a mean absolute deviation (MAD) of 0.39 years.

The EU’s Medical Device Coordination Group (MDCG) posted two guidances in the waning weeks of 2025, one of which deals with postmarket surveillance for both devices and diagnostics. Another guidance deals with breakthrough devices (BtX) and diagnostics, a question that is not well described in either of the current EU regulatory frameworks.