Connected medical devices, like all other computer systems, are vulnerable to threats that may lead to compromise of data confidentiality, integrity, and availability. To address these challenges, the Healthcare and Public Health Sector Coordinating Council (HSCC) Joint Cybersecurity Working Group recently issued the Medical Device and Health Information Technology (IT) Joint Security Plan (JSP). [1]…
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Compliance with the EU Medical Devices Regulation (MDR) is a significant undertaking that requires cross-functional collaboration. In this post, we explore key activities involved in strategic planning for compliance. Establishing a leadership team Good leadership is essential for managing the transition to EU MDR compliance and creating an execution strategy which includes timelines and mechanisms…
With the looming deadline for compliance with the EU Medical Devices Regulation (MDR), device manufacturers face a host of questions about how to prepare their existing products for compliance. In this post, we provide answers to top questions about EU MDR compliance. Is it possible to avoid compliance with the EU MDR? The short answer…
Decades of painstaking research have recently begun to yield gene therapy products that are delivering meaningful benefits to human health. The approvals of voretigene neparvovec-rzyl (Luxturna) for inherited vision loss, tisagenlecleucel (Kymriah) for lymphoblastic leukemia, and axicabtagene ciloleucel (Yescarta) for lymphoma have ushered in a new era of therapeutics. With the rapid evolution of the…
As medical device regulations evolve and global, multi-center studies become increasingly common, a growing number of sponsors are turning to independent committees such as Data Monitoring Committees (DMCs) or Clinical Endpoint Committees (CECs) for assistance with clinical trial oversight. However, given that neither the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) nor the European Medicines Agency…
Months before Britons voted narrowly to leave the European Union (EU) in June 2016, then-U.K. Prime Minister David Cameron called a vote to withdraw from “the gamble of the century” and warned of dire political and economic repercussions. More than two-and-a-half years later, Cameron’s warning sounds more prescient than ever. Countless unanswered questions confront British…
Since 2002, doctors and researchers have used a standard rosacea classification system to provide consistent terminology as well as to facilitate studies, clinical diagnosis, and treatment. However, in 2018, the Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology published a new standard classification system that replaces the previous one[1]. Below is some of the most important…
We were conducting a trial for a painful diabetic neuropathy (PDN) drug and were investigating why one site had an especially high placebo response rate. Then one of our representatives, waiting in the site’s lobby to meet with the principal investigator, pinpointed the likely reason when a patient walked in the door. “Mrs. Jones,” the…
Between 7 and 10 percent of the U.S. population suffers from some type of neuropathic pain, and a significant share of those affected require chronic pain treatment.1 This high rate of occurrence makes our limited understanding of these afflictions, and the long search for effective treatments, all the more frustrating. Treating neuropathic pain starts with…
In 1976, pop culture icon John Travolta starred in the made-for-television movie The Boy in the Plastic Bubble about a young man with a compromised immune system. The premise of the film is that Travolta’s character has to decide between living in isolation behind a protective bubble or dying engaged with the physical world. Hollywood…