Dr. Jeffrey Shuren

Devices & Diagnostics

Benefit-risk determination for premarket applications outlined by FDA

The FDA released a new guidance yesterday detailing the agency’s process of making benefit-risk determinations when assessing premarket applications for medical devices for “reasonable assurance of safety and effectiveness.” The agency hopes to provide clarity for both industry and its reviewers by outlining what sorts of factors are taken into consideration when considering PMAs, the […]

Devices & Diagnostics

IOM’s 510(k) assessment says FDA should abandon the entire process

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s certification of medical devices lacks the legal framework to be a “reliable premarket screen” and should be scrapped, according to the Institute of Medicine’s long-awaited 510(k) assessment. Specifically, the IOM’s 510(k) report noted that the 510(k) approval process “cannot be transformed into a premarket evaluation of safety and effectiveness […]

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MedCity Influencers

Protecting innovation in medical technology

At a time when medical device companies are facing challenges like the $20 Billion excise tax (part of national health care reform), there is industry-wide concern that FDA will increase the regulatory burdens necessary to bring new technology to market, thus increasing time to bring life-enhancing products to patients, and increasing costs. There is already a dearth of early-stage start-up funding available in many parts of the country, and an increasingly burdensome and unpredictable regulatory process only hurts the ability of promising companies to attract what little start-up money exists.

Policy

A note on the Med Tech Investment conference in Minneapolis

As a journalist, I’m frequently beset with impulsive self-righteousness. Which is why I jumped the gun a bit this week. I wanted to attend the Med Tech Investment conference in Minneapolis this past week, specifically a speech by Dr. Dan Schultz, the former head of the Center for Devices and Radiological Health (CDRH) at the […]

Policy

Is there a patient in the room? Please present yourself to the FDA

“This is all about patients,” Dr. Susan Alpert, Medtronic Inc.’s top regulatory officer, told Food and Drug Administration officials Tuesday at a town hall meeting in Bloomington, Minnesota. But was it? For all of the venture capitalists, CEOs, doctors, and industry consultants Minnesota’s medical device community threw at Dr. Jeffery Shuren, there was not one […]