PERTH, Australia – It was already going to be a busy year for Australia’s Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) as it planned to implement the final wave of device reforms in 2020 before the COVID-19 pandemic hit. The delay to the EU Medical Device Regulation (MDR) as a result of the pandemic will mean that Australia will also push back many of its device reforms for another year, said John Skerritt, the TGA’s deputy secretary of the Health Products Regulation Group.

PERTH, Australia – Australia’s Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) is seeking industry feedback on further strengthening reforms for adverse events and postmarket regulations for medical devices.

PERTH, Australia – Australia’s Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) said industry stakeholders supported making in vitro diagnostic (IVD) self-tests available for infectious diseases like influenza but self-tests for cancer and genetic testing for health-related purposes should continue to be prohibited from supply.

PERTH, Australia – An independent review of recent reforms to Australia’s Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) advertising framework confirmed that the changes to the new advertising code resulted in improvement, with the new code being clearer and easier to understand. The advertising reforms are part of larger regulatory reforms implemented to increase the pathways for marketing approval for drugs and devices while reducing regulatory red tape and redundancies.

PERTH, Australia – As the state of Victoria in Australia records its deadliest day since the COVID-19 pandemic began, reporting 17 deaths and 394 new cases, Atomo Diagnostics Ltd.’s new COVID-19 antibody test could ease pressure on health care systems.

PERTH, Australia – A review by Australia’s Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) revealed that medical device recall databases may significantly under-represent software errors, causing harm to patients. These under-reported events are due to patients being unaware how to report problems, inadequate information being reported, effects of software errors being too subtle or difficult to detect, or root cause analyses that may not identify software as the source of error when it causes other components to fail.

PERTH, Australia – Australia’s Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) is pushing back implementation dates for numerous medical device reforms due to delays caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.

PERTH, Australia – The majority of stakeholders support the Therapeutic Goods Administration’s (TGA) proposal to restructure Australia’s device essential principles to align with the requirements under the new EU Medical Device Regulations (EU MDR), but there was little support to align with the International Medical Device Regulators Forum (IMDRF) essential principles and principles of labeling.