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Medtech Business Review | Monday, August 15, 2022
The European Commission's proposal paper on the transition arrangements for medical devices and in vitro diagnostic medical devices was released outlining the new transition timeframes.
FREMONT, CA: Medical device makers in Europe are one step closer to gaining some breathing room after warning that new regulatory laws could lead to product shortages in their businesses. In order to delay the full implementation of the new Medical Device Regulation or MDR, the European Commission adopted a proposal
The European Commission approved a proposal to postpone the full implementation of the new Medical Device Regulation, or MDR. The proposal will now be sent to the EU's parliament and council, where final approval is expected through an accelerated co-decision procedure, according to the commission's announcement.
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The delay was suggested last month by Stella Kyriakides, the EU's commissioner for health, as complaints about strict regulations, as well as the high costs and protracted wait times to comply with them, reached a fever pitch.
In fact, numerous device-makers revealed that they had been compelled to drastically reduce their European portfolios. They claimed that, in extreme circumstances, recertifying an already-authorized item may cost ten times as much as the initial, pre-MDR certification and take more than two years as opposed to the earlier, brief timeframe. Supply chain shortages caused by the pandemic and the Russian and Ukraine conflict were intensifying the rupture left in the market as devices were removed to comply with the new regulations.
In keeping with the European Commission's new proposal, device-makers will have until the end of 2027 to recertify high-risk devices that were previously approved for sale on the continent. In the meantime, their medium- and low-risk products will be transitioned until 2028. This extends the transition period from what was originally intended, which called for all devices to be reauthorized by May 26, 2024, giving medtech makers just three years from the MDR's implementation date of 2021 to comply with the new regulations.
The sell-off clause present in the original rule is likewise addressed in the new proposal. By May 26, 2025, any previously approved devices that hadn't undergone recertification but were still available for purchase would have to be fully taken off the market. According to the commission, the update, on the other hand, seeks to eradicate the sell-off rule, which will ensure that safe and essential medical devices that are already on the market remain available to healthcare systems and patients in need.
The commission, however, failed to address the primary barrier that device makers face in obtaining recertification such as long wait times and high costs, the former of which is mainly linked to a dearth of notified bodies that have been authorized across the EU to analyse MRD applications.
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