“… I’d like to take a moment to reflect on an inspiring year of advances in both medicine and public health for FDA — from groundbreaking medical products …and to the agency’s ongoing efforts to advance policies that promote safe and effective product innovation…”
“As scientific understanding of disease advances and the practice of medicine becomes more tailored to individual patient needs, we also are modernizing how we work with innovators throughout the development process…”
“2017 saw a number of other similar, historic milestones with regard to new innovation. This collective progress reflects a fundamental shift in science that’s enabling us to attack more diseases with novel platforms…”
“… also extends to medical devices, where we’ve focused on a life-cycle approach to product development. This has allowed us to streamline clinical development protocols without compromising on our commitment to rely on rigorous evidence. By carefully considering when clinical data can be better gathered through post-market…”
“Our commitment to applying the “least burdensome standard” for generating information critical for device approval was strengthened and advanced by provisions in the 21st Century Cures Act. This policy approach is a hallmark of our efforts to help innovators generate high quality evidence that can support marketing approval as efficiently as possible…”
“To promote these efforts, we advanced a new policy framework allowing certain diagnostic tests to undergo review by accredited third parties. This new framework will reduce the burden on test developers and streamline the regulatory assessment…”
“Over the past summer, we also launched a pilot program exploring a new way of regulating digital health devices so that these fast-evolving technologies can similarly undergo the rapid product evolution that’s the hallmark of software tools like medical apps…”
“Advances in our post-market tools and policies can yield meaningful advances for patients in the form of safer products, better information to guide medical decisions, and more opportunity to more efficiently move products to market… always looking for ways to reform and improve this oversight, and advance the ways that we share this information with patients and providers.”
Source: Reflections on a Landmark Year for Medical Product Innovation and Public Health Advances and Looking Ahead to Policy in 2018 – BY Scott Gottlieb, January 9, 2018. Read the full blog here.
