FDA Proposes New Rule for Acceptance of Data from Clinical Studies for Medical Devices

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is proposing to amend its regulations on acceptance of data from clinical studies for medical devices. The proposed regulation would require that clinical studies conducted outside the United States in support of an investigational device exemption (IDE) application, a premarket notification (510(k)) submission, a premarket approval (PMA) application, a product development protocol (PDP) application, or a humanitarian device exemption (HDE) application be conducted in accordance with good clinical practice (GCP), which includes obtaining and documenting the review and approval of the study by an independent ethics committee (IEC) and obtaining and documenting freely given informed  consent of study subjects.  The proposed rule is intended to update the standards for FDA acceptance of data from clinical studies conducted outside of the United States and to help ensure the protection of human subjects and the quality and integrity of data obtained from these studies.  As part of this proposed rule, FDA is also proposing to amend the IDE and 510(k) regulations to address the requirements for acceptance of data from clinical studies conducted inside the United States.  The proposed amendments are intended to provide consistency in FDA requirements for acceptance of clinical data, whatever the application or submission type.

The proposed rule is available using the following web link:  http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/FR-2013-02-25/pdf/2013-04201.pdf