How Will the EU MDR Shape the Future of MedTech?
By: Marius Tippkoetter
Tags: Healthcare, Eu Mdr, Medical Devices, Medtech, Digital Health

This article first appeared via the Climedo Blog.

From May 26 2020 onwards, medical devices manufacturers operating and/or selling within the EU must comply with the EU MDR (EU 2017/745). The regulation’s objective is to improve patient safety by evaluating existing devices (e.g. through PMS and PMCF) and ensuring transparency throughout a device’s lifecycle. In a recent survey conducted by KPMG and RAPS, 66% of respondents said they hadn‘t started planning for the long-term ramifications of MDR compliance, and only 27% believed they would be fully compliant by the cut-off in May 2020. In the following, we want to discuss how the future of medtech will be impacted by the new regulation.

A new Chapter for MedTech

Despite the amount of bureaucracy, increased costs, and longer waiting times the new regulation may entail, it has the potential to fundamentally change the MedTech industry (for the better, we believe). In our Playbook, we gaze into the future and predict five key ways in which we believe the MDR will shape the future MedTech world and how companies can use it as a leverage for growth. Below is a sneak preview of what our Playbook talks about.

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1. Accelerated Innovation

Under EU MDR law, Post-Market Surveillance (PMS) will become an integral part of most manufacturers’ Quality Management System (QMS). This means that they will need to gather and demonstrate much more evidence on whether their devices are fulfilling their intended purpose. They must also identify and potentially eliminate underperforming devices.

The amount of data companies must collect will give them access to new insights which can help improve their products and devices, shifting from mere compliance to a higher quality standard. In light of the MDR, companies can take advantage of a stronger product differentiation and an improved ability to design and promote products to key decision makers. Gathering clinical evaluation data and real-world evidence to back up product marketing claims could also lead to new or better claims, thus driving market adoption.

Experts predict that 30% of medical devices could be taken off the market due to the MDR. Though it sounds daunting, this will enable them to invest their efforts into their most valuable devices and grow their market share. As part of their portfolio rationalization, manufacturers will be able to see which products may no longer be worth their investment and discontinue them or sell them off to larger companies. The mandatory Unique Device Identification (UDI) system will help detect and report counterfeit products more easily, thus decluttering the market.

2. Improved Safety & Transparency

Unlike the MDD (Medical Device Directive), the MDR states in Article 10 (2) that manufacturers must establish, document, implement and maintain a Risk Management System (RMS) as part of their QMS. Better identifying, analysing, and communicating known and foreseeable hazards will protect patient safety in the long term. New sanctions, such as fines or even prosecution, are meant to ensure that manufacturers follow through with their RMS and have patients’ best interests at heart.

The MDR will also help to mitigate liability: should the safety of a medical device or product ever be called into question, manufacturers will need to act quickly. Not only will this help to ensure patient safety, it will also reduce the company’s liability, since their reaction time has to be kept to a minimum. Incidents need to be reported either immediately or within a given number of days (two to fifteen). The amount of data manufacturers will have gathered as part of their PMS by then will also help them build a stronger defense case if necessary.

3. Patient Empowerment

On the end-user side, patients and medical staff can expect increased safety, traceability, and transparency. Since manufacturers will need to proactively gather and report on user feedback as part of their PMS, patients will have a clear say in the efficacy of products, how they will be modified, which should stay on the market, and which should be removed. This will contribute to a future of true patient empowerment. Some examples of what the MDR aims to find out from patients are:

Is the device fulfilling its promised use? Are patients perhaps over- or underusing a device? Are they using the device’s default settings or having to change them every time?

With the EUDAMED database becoming publicly available in May 2022, patients will be able to make more informed decisions about devices by researching them ahead of usage. Patients with implants will receive a registration card with access to information about the manufacturer and their safety records.

4. New Roles for Notified Bodies

Finally, medium- and high-risk medical devices will require review by a Notified Body (NB). Their role will be to ensure that devices at every stage, from design through quality control to ongoing surveillance, comply with the regulation. For example, NBs will be obliged to enforce regulation through unannounced audits of manufacturers’ processes, and manufacturers may need to amend their contracts with subcontractors and/or suppliers as a result.

For NBs to be able to issue MDR certificates (such as the CE mark), they need to be recertified according to MDR. This designation process consists of four steps and will take ~18 months per NB. We should thus expect some delays in the review and certification process. Furthermore, it is likely that not all current NBs will remain in business; the number has been declining since 2012, and as of November 20th, 2019, just seven NBs have been MDR-certified. A current list can be found via the NANDO database.

On a more positive note, the more rigorous surveillance and scrutiny by NBs will mean that risks from unsafe devices will be drastically reduced. Manufacturers should prepare for these changes well in advance to ensure a smooth transition to MDR.

5) A Paperless World

According to MDR Annex III, manufacturers’ technical documentation must be presented in a “clear, searchable and unambiguous manner”. Until now, many affected companies have been working with unstructured data collection and sharing systems, such as paper, Excel or email. Since these systems are cost-inefficient, unsafe and likely to struggle in the post-MDR era, we can expect a surge in companies moving their technical documentation into the cloud.

As such, we will see more and more manufacturers embracing a holistic, digital solution that is accessible to all involved stakeholders. Some of the benefits manufacturers will see in the long term include improved collaboration and transparency, the elimination of silos, and more efficient information management processes. They will also be able to react to serious incidents more quickly, mitigating potential safety risks.

To protect data from cybersecurity risks, however, certain security requirements must be met, such as data pseudonymization, appropriate encryption schemes, and consistent back-up strategies.

Want to find out more?

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Additional documents to get you ready for the EU MDR