A Conversation With David Walsh | Director of Engineering
According to David Walsh, Director of Engineering at Kapstone, medical device companies really only have one goal: to “make sure their device is ultimately widely accepted in the market, easily understood, and can be used safely and effectively.” Sums it up, doesn’t it?
Bringing a medical device to market is difficult for startup and established medical device companies alike. Though the development and approval process can sometimes take years, those years are jam-packed with requirements and milestones that can challenge even the most experienced companies.
A Conversation with Kellen Hills | Regulatory Affairs Specialist, Kapstone Medical
Since 1906, the US Food and Drug Administration (more commonly known as the FDA) has protected consumers against the threat posed by adulterated, mislabeled, unsafe, or otherwise ineffective food and drug products. Regulatory affairs consultant Kellen Hills notes that before the FDA was empowered to regulate these products, “people were getting sick and dying because of unsavory characters putting things out on the market, making false claims about what they did with no oversight.”
A Conversation with John Kapitan | Founder & CEO, Kapstone Medical
Bringing a medical device to market is a challenging process, to say the least. From ideation to product classification to obtaining final approval in a target market, so many of these necessary steps can become pain points for established and fledgling companies alike.
The European Database for Medical Devices (EUDAMED) was conceived 20 years ago in 1998, originally as part of the In Vitro Diagnostics Devices Directive (IVDD) and included the Medical Devices Directive (MDD).
Under the new MDR that replaces the MDD, the European Commission recognized that to fully support the more stringent requirements for filing, reporting, and continuing surveillance, it would need to greatly expand the capabilities of the database for monitoring and data collection.
The new EU Medical Device Regulation (MDR) builds on the framework of the MDD with an increased emphasis on post-market surveillance (PMS) and post-market clinical follow-up (PMCF) that moves closer to the FDA’s approach.
The FDA defines PMS as the process of “active, systematic, scientifically valid collection, analysis and interpretation of data and other information about a marketed device.”
Among the significant changes facing device makers transitioning their products in the European Union from the Medical Device Directives (MDD) to the Medical Device Regulation (MDR) are the new requirements around clinical evidence.
Under the MDR, device manufacturers marketing products in the EU will face some additional hurdles, but if you also market in the US, Canada, Japan, or other countries, the new regulations will likely be familiar to you.
Complying with the European Union’s Medical Device Regulation (MDR) poses a daunting task for medical device makers marketing products inside the EU. One of the most taxing efforts for companies that already have CE-marked devices in the EU is the need for portfolio reviews.
If you are new to obtaining marketing approval in the European Union, the concept of Notified Bodies is one of the most significant differences from the US FDA system or regulatory oversight.
A Notified Body is an independent certification organization that is “notified” by an EU member state’s Competent Authority, usually the ministry of health, to certify that a product meets the applicable requirements for CE marking.
The new Medical Devices Regulation (2017/745/EU), or more commonly referred to as the EU MDR, poses significant challenges to medical device makers that want to market their products in the European Union.
The clock is already ticking and the three-year transition period is counting down to 26 May 2020, which is the “Date of Application” (DoA) of the Regulation.
