Medtech Matters

In this episode of Mike on Medtech with Mike Drues, president of Vascular Sciences, we discuss the FDA’s letter from March 15, which provided a statement from FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb, M.D., and Jeffrey Shuren, M.D., Director of the Center for Devices and Radiological Health, on efforts to evaluate materials in medical devices to address potential safety questions. Specifically, we address a number of questions, including:  What were the main contents of this announcement with regard to the evaluation of materials by the FDA? Are there certain materials they are expected to target early in this review process? What are technology-specific guidances and how do they relate to this effort? Will the FDA ban specific materials if they do not meet a certain criteria or have too high an incidence of reactions among patients? Will this effort ultimately lead to a regulatory pathway to approve materials for medical device manufacture? Does having a review process for materials that would be approved for use in