June 18, 2015

Calling it something of a “culture change” at the Center for Devices and Radiological Health (CDRH), Director Jeffrey Shuren said his team is working hard to find ways to speed approval of new medical devices by, in part, placing more stress on patient needs when looking at high-risk devices.

If potential users believe a product’s benefits outweigh its potential risks, Shuren said the agency is more likely to approve it today. “We want to make the U.S. a much more attractive market for medical device innovations,” he told attendees at this month’s Drug Information Association (DIA) convention in Washington, D.C., acknowledging that America has some of the toughest standards blocking the way between device manufacture and approval.

Jeffrey E. Shuren, M.D., J.D., Director, CDRH

Jeffrey E. Shuren, M.D., J.D., Director, CDRH

Shuren pinned a lot of his hopes on the Medical Device Innovation Consortium (MDIC), the first public-private partnership devoted to the advancement of regulatory science in the medical device industry. MDIC aims to coordinate the development of methods, tools, and resources used in managing the total product life cycle of a medical device to improve patient access to cutting-edge medical technology. It will hold its annual meeting September 25 in D.C.

Boasting 49 members, including large and small device companies, PhRMA, venture capitalists, consumer groups, FDA and NIH, MDIC has been active over the past year or so, holding a slew of meetings across the U.S. (and Japan), spreading the good word of innovation.

Shuren also talked about the FDA’s May guidance which offers additional detail regarding how it will consider patient needs as it weighs risk/benefit calculations. “We’re looking to find ways to reduce medical device time to market,” he said. CDRH is making “changes in our approach” as evidenced by the guidance and the FDA’s work with MDIC, among other things, Shuren stressed.