Medical devices that are deemed to have a moderate risk to patients generally cannot go on the market until they are cleared through the FDA 510(k) process. In recent years, individuals and organizations have expressed concern that the 510(k) process is neither making safe and effective devices available to patients nor promoting innovation in the medical-device industry. Several high-profile mass-media reports and consumer-protection groups have profiled recognized or potential problems with medical devices cleared through the 510(k) clearance process. The medical-device industry and some patients have asserted that the process has become too burdensome and is delaying or stalling the entry of important new medical devices to the market. At the request of the FDA, the Institute of Medicine (IOM) examined the 510(k) process. Medical Devices and the Public's Health examines the current 510(k) clearance process and whether it optimally protects patients and promotes innovation in support of public health. It also identifies legislative, regulatory, or administrative changes that will achieve the goals of the 510(k) clearance process. Medical Devices and the Public's Health recommends that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration gather the information needed to develop a new regulatory framework to replace the 35-year-old 510(k) clearance process for medical devices. According to the report, the FDA's finite resources are best invested in developing an integrated premarket and postmarket regulatory framework.

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is responsible for assuring that medical devices are safe and effective before they go on the market. As part of its assessment of FDA's premarket clearance process for medical devices, the IOM held a workshop June 14-15 to discuss how to best balance patient safety and technological innovation. This document summarizes the workshop.

The term 'medical devices' covers a wide range of equipment essential for patient care at every level of the health service, whether at the bedside, at a health clinic or in a large specialised hospital. Yet many countries lack access to high-quality devices, particularly in developing countries where health technology assessments are rare and there is a lack of regulatory controls to prevent the use of substandard devices. This publication provides a guidance framework for countries wishing to create or modify their own regulatory systems for medical devices, based on best practice experience in other countries. Issues highlighted include: the need for harmonised regulations; and the adoption, where appropriate, of device approvals of advanced regulatory systems to avoid an unnecessary drain on scarce resources. These approaches allow emphasis to be placed on locally-assessed needs, including vendor and device registration, training and surveillance and information exchange systems.

FDLI's popular reference book, A Practical Guide to FDA's Food and Drug Law and Regulation, Seventh Edition, provides an introduction to the laws and regulations governing development, marketing, and sale of FDA-regulated products, including topics on food, drugs, medical devices, biologics, dietary supplements, cosmetics, new animal drugs, cannabis, and tobacco and nicotine products. Structured to serve as a reference and as a teaching tool, the book offers practical legal and regulatory fundamentals, and each chapter builds sequentially from the last to provide an accessible overview of the key topics relevant to practitioners of food and drug law and regulation. This book is a standard legal text in law schools and graduate regulatory programs and has been cited as a reference in judicial opinions (including the U.S. Supreme Court). This Seventh Edition includes new sections on controlled substances, compounded drugs, and cannabis and cannabis-derived compounds. It also incorporates the latest amendments to the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act, as well as FDA regulations and guidances.

How have recent changes in domestic and international regulations affected quality management in the development and marketing of medical devices in the US and abroad? Consultants Daniel and Kimmelman take a close look at the Quality System Regulation (QsReg), the ISO 13485: 2003 standard and the ISO/TR 14969: 2004 guidance document as well as a number of US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and Global Harmonization Task Force (GHTF) guidance documents. The authors provide extensive commentary and notes an update their material to include such topics as the incorporation of principles of risk management into the medical device organizations' quality management systems (QMSs) and considerations of combination products. Daniel and Kimmelman include full coverage of the QSReg requirements, descriptions of comparable requirements in the ISO documents, excerpts of the FDA's responses to the QSReg preamble and excerpts from FDA guidance documents related to QMSs.

Today's challenge, especially for many newcomers to the regulated industry, is not necessarily to gather regulatory information, but to know how to interpret and apply it. The ability to discern what is important from what is not, and to interpret regulatory documents correctly, provides a valuable competitive advantage to any newcomer or established professional in this field. An Overview of FDA Regulated Products: From Drugs and Medical Devices to Food and Tobacco provides a valuable summary of the key information to unveil the meaning of critical, and often complex, regulatory concepts. Concise and easy to read with practical explanations, key points, summaries and case studies, this book highlights the regulatory processes involved in bringing an FDA regulated product from research and development to approval and market. Although the primary focus will be on the US system, this book also features global perspectives where appropriate. A valuable resource for students, professors and professionals, An Overview of FDA Regulated Products illustrates the most important elements and concepts so that the reader can focus on the critical issues and make the necessary connections to be successful. - Provides an overview of key regulatory requirements using a practical approach that features detailed discussions of hypothetical and real-world case studies in order to highlight the concepts and applications of regulations - Covers all FDA regulated products, including drugs, biologics, medical devices, cosmetics, foods, dietary supplements, cosmetics, veterinary products, tobacco and more in one single reference - Illustrates complex topics in a clear, succinct and engaging manner by breaking down technical terms and offering straightforward and easy to understand explanations