The U.S. FDA granted San Diego-based Illumina Inc. an emergency use authorization (EUA) for the first COVID-19 diagnostic test that uses next-generation sequencing (NGS). In addition to diagnosing infection with SARS-CoV-2, the COVIDSeq test can help researchers track mutations in the coronavirus.
The latest global regulatory news, changes and updates affecting medical devices and technologies, including: Lucid Diagnostics, Moleculight, Palmetto GBA, Pavmed.
Regulatory snapshots, including global submissions and approvals, clinical trial approvals and other regulatory decisions and designations: Establishment Labs, Medtronic.
The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic has reached into quarters that are not historically problematic for makers of diagnostics, including China’s import and export practices for test kits. According to one caller on an FDA diagnostic town hall, export officials in China have a blacklist and a whitelist for test kits, but there is some dispute as to whether kits that are eligible for distribution in the U.S. can get off the blacklist unless that kit is specifically called out via the emergency use authorization (EUA) program.
The U.S. FDA granted Gtx Medical BV a breakthrough device designation for its implantable Go-2 Targeted Epidural Spinal Stimulation (TESS) system. The device enabled patients who had sustained traumatic spinal cord injuries to regain voluntary control over previously paralyzed muscles and walk again four or more years after paralysis, according to a study previously published in Nature.
Regulatory snapshots, including global submissions and approvals, clinical trial approvals and other regulatory decisions and designations: Chromacode, Illumina, Quidel.
The U.S. FDA’s effort to marry its quality systems regulations with ISO 13485 has hardly gone off without a hitch, but Melissa Torres, director of international programs at the FDA’s device center, said the agency is “very hopeful” it can publish a draft rule for that task by the end of this year.