The “regulatory affairs” section comprises over 200 tasks that need to be completed during the development and approval of medical devices.
Here, you will find an overview of the most essential content so that you can get your device approved quickly.
Content
On this page, you will find articles on the following topics:
- What regulatory affairs is
- Regulatory requirements
- Authorization and documentation
- Authorities, institutions, and associations
- Further topics of regulatory affairs
1. What regulatory affairs is
Regulatory affairs comprises the processes and activities that ensure that medical devices meet the regulatory requirements of the countries where they are sold. This includes
- obtaining the necessary approvals from the regulatory authorities,
- compliance with applicable regulations and standards, and
- maintaining conformity throughout the entire product life cycle until decommissioning.
The tasks of regulatory affairs also include monitoring changes to regulations and standards and communicating these changes to stakeholders within the company to ensure continuous compliance.
Regulatory affairs thus plays a crucial role in ensuring that medical devices are safe, effective, and comply with legal requirements.
Further information
Refer also to the article on regulatory affairs managers’ tasks, competencies, and earning potential. This includes the task of developing a regulatory strategy.
2. Regulatory requirements
a) Germany
Laws |
Medical Devices Law (no longer valid)
Medical Devices Implementation Act MPDG |
National regulations |
Medical Device Operator Ordinance (Medizinprodukte-Betreiberverordnung – MPBetreibV)
Medical Device User Notification and Information Ordinance (Medizinprodukte-Anwendermelde- und Informationsverordnung – MPAMIV) |
b) Europe
c) USA
d) Other markets
3. Approval and documentation
a) Approval
Find more information on international approval
b) Qualification and classification (How should my device be classified?)
c) Technical documentation (What do I need to document for each device?)
d) Quality management (What should your company fulfill?)
Quality management is not usually the responsibility of regulatory affairs. Nevertheless, we have listed some important articles for you.
4. Authorities, institutions, and associations
a) Germany
b) Europe
c) International
IMDRF: International Medical Device Regulators Forum |
5. Regulatory affairs: Further topics
Here, you will find an article on the tasks and competencies of regulatory affairs managers.
Note the advantages and disadvantages of Regulatory Information Management Systems (RIMS) and their role in manufacturers’ digital transformation.
Part of the tasks of regulatory affairs is regulatory intelligence.
Do you need support?
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Post-Market Surveillance (PMS) is a proactive and systematic process to derive necessary corrective and preventive actions (CAPA) from information about medical devices already placed on the market. We have created a Post-Market Surveillance checklist for you. With this checklist, you can find out whether you meet the regulatory requirements of the MDR for Post-Market Surveillance…
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The medical device regulations have significantly increased the requirements for distributors. You need to understand these requirements to avoid multi-year custodial sentences threatened in the event of infringement. This article also considers extensive guidance issued by the Irish regulator. 1. What a “distributor” is (and what it isn’t) a) Definition The Medical Device Regulation (MDR) has many…
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Both European and U.S. regulations place requirements on the labeling. However, the two legal systems do not understand the term entirely identically. Even the spelling differs: labeling in the USA, labelling in Europe. In this article, you will learn what you need to keep in mind in each case when it comes to labeling. Speaking…
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ISO 20417:2021 Medical devices – Information to be supplied by the manufacturer establishes requirements for the general information that manufacturers have to supply with their medical devices and IVD devices. The authors have succeeded in presenting the criteria in a clear and comprehensible manner. ISO 20417:2021 is also on the list of standards to be…
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Manufacturers of substance-based medical devices such as seawater nasal sprays, mucous membrane-soothing cough syrups, or osmotically active laxatives face several challenges once the Regulation (EU) 2017/745 (MDR) came into force: This article illustrates what can be done to overcome the regulatory hurdles and ensure the marketability of your substance-based medical devices beyond the transition…
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If you have to conduct a clinical investigation for your medical device or clinical performance study for your IVD, you won’t be able to avoid sample size planning. And you will need to avoid the following two problems when calculating the sample size: Therefore, you need to accurately identify the exact sample size needed so…
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The same legal requirements apply to the clinical evaluation of software as to the clinical evaluation of all medical devices. This means that as a Medical Device Software (MDSW) manufacturer, you must prepare a clinical evaluation for your product just like any other manufacturer. A performance evaluation must be carried out for software that is an in vitro diagnostic…
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The literature search is a key part of the clinical evaluation. It usually involves numerous hours of work. This article will give you six tips to help you efficiently carry out and fully document the literature search. In the literature search, manufacturers gather together scientific articles, among other reasons, to document the state of the…
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ISO 13485 requires a medical device file for each medical device type or medical device family. Many manufacturers think that the medical device file is the same as the technical documentation required by the MDR or IVDR. But that isn’t entirely true. Does one of the three files required by the FDA (DMR, DHF, DHR) match the…
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With the Post-Market Surveillance plan (PMS plan), manufacturers are trying to achieve two (potentially) contradictory goals. On the one hand, they have to comply with the legal requirements and maximize the safety of their devices. And on the other, they can only take on as much work as they can realistically do in the long…
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