The regulatory record for successful replacements of the human meniscus is thin, but the latest attempt came up short as a U.S. FDA advisory committee voted 6-2 that the benefits of the Nusurface device by Active Implants LLC did not present an acceptable benefit-risk ratio. The device is commercially available in both the European Union and in Israel, however, suggesting that Memphis, Tenn.-based Active will not give up on the massive U.S. market, which offers a patient population that will undergo a tsunami of total knee replacements in the decades ahead unless a solution for the epidemic of cartilage degeneration can be found.
Citing significant concerns of bacterial contamination, the FDA urged consumers and health care providers to stop using specific lots of SD Biosensor Inc.’s Pilot COVID-19 At-Home Tests, which were distributed by Roche Diagnostics Systems Inc. The agency warned that direct contact with the contaminated liquid solution could pose safety issues as well as impair the test’s performance.
In a draft guidance released May 2, the U.S. FDA provided recommendations for sponsors, investigators and other stakeholders for implementation of decentralized clinical trials (DCTs) to advance research in medical devices, drugs and biologics. This week’s announcement responds to the Food and Drug Omnibus Reform Act, signed into law late last year, which required the agency to “issue or revise draft guidance that includes recommendations to clarify and advance the use of decentralized clinical studies to support the development of drugs and devices.”
Elidah Inc. expanded its line of U.S. FDA-cleared, over-the-counter devices to reduce or eliminate urinary incontinence in women with the launch of Elitone Urge for urge incontinence. The device is a muscle stimulator that can be worn under clothes as the user goes about her day and rebuilds muscle tone.
Cardiex Ltd. won U.S. FDA clearance for its Conneqt Pulse vascular biometric monitor. According to the digital health and wearables company, the device is the first in the world to provide measurements of both brachial blood pressure in the arm and central blood pressure in the heart and aorta, as well as arterial waveform analysis and other clinically relevant vascular biomarkers, outside the hospital, research institutions or clinical trial sites.
Ultromics Ltd. has been granted a U.S. FDA breakthrough device designation for its artificial intelligence (AI)-enhanced platform to aid early diagnosis of cardiac amyloidosis. Echogo Amyloidosis uses AI to analyze echocardiograms and detect the presence of cardiac amyloidosis, using a single commonly acquired ultrasound view of the heart. The platform was developed with the support of Janssen Biotech Inc., part of the Janssen Pharmaceutical Companies, a unit of Johnson & Johnson.
Regulatory harmonization is perhaps highest on the regulatory wish list of medical device manufacturers, but the FDA’s device center has tamped down expectations of a medical device single review program. Jeff Shuren, director of the Center for Devices and Radiological Health (CDRH) said the agency will release a strategic plan later this year for regulatory harmonization, but declined to offer any details other than to state that differences in risk classification schema are not as significant a source of drag on harmonization as may commonly be believed.
Dublin-based Medtronic plc, and the U.S. FDA have wrapped up their discussion of the December 2021 warning letter for the company’s manufacture of continuous glucose monitors, clearing a hurdle that was critical in restoring the company’s footprint in the U.S. market. Left unanswered from the resolution of the warning letter is whether the FDA believes that device makers need to track the number of devices in distribution vs. those in actual use in order to properly calculate the risk of device failure based on postmarket surveillance.
Insulet Corp. has taken the lead in the race to bring insulin delivery systems to individuals with type 2 diabetes with U.S. FDA clearance of its Omnipod Go device. The delivery system is adapted for use by adults who use once-a-day basal insulin. The company plans to roll out Go in 2024.
Avanos Medical Inc. recalled 1,000 units of two of its Ballard Access suction systems for use in clearing artificial airways in neonatal and pediatric patients because of multiple complaints of cracked device manifolds. The recall affects 1,000 units distributed in the U.S. between October 2022 and January 2023, but this is the second recall of Avanos products in less than a year.
