laboratory-developed tests

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On October 31, FDA will be offering a webinar on its proposed rule ”Medical Devices; Laboratory Developed Tests.”

This webinar comes about a month after FDA issued a proposed rule revising 21 C.F.R. Part 809 (specifically, 21 C.F.R, § 809.3) to state, explicitly, that in vitro diagnostics (IVDs) are medical devices, even if they are developed and manufactured in a laboratory setting.

This category of tests is generally referred to as “laboratory developed tests” (LDTs) and FDA has historically extended enforcement discretion, accepting the availability of certain LDTs outside of the FDA device clearance and approval pathway.

Of course this has not been a straightforward situation: we have seen decades of debate among FDA and industry stakeholders about the exact boundaries of FDA’s expressed enforcement discretion—where those boundaries should lie, and even interpretation (gleaned from enforcement action) of more precisely where they do, in FDA practice, actually lie.Continue Reading The Latest Episode of the LDT Drama: FDA Issues Long-Awaited Proposed Rule for Laboratory Developed Tests

The House Energy and Commerce Health Subcommittee has scheduled a November 17, 2015 hearing on the regulation of diagnostic tests and laboratory operations.   The hearing will feature FDA and CMS officials who will testify on “each agency’s respective responsibilities and areas of expertise in the regulation of diagnostic tests, as well as what their roles…

CMS and FDA are establishing an interagency task force to reinforce their collaboration regarding the oversight of laboratory-developed tests (LDTs), which are tests intended for clinical use and designed, manufactured, and used within a single lab. According to an FDA blog post, the goals of the FDA/CMS task force include: (1) identifying areas of similarity…

In preparation for legislative activity early next year, various lawmakers have issued open requests for feedback on several health policy initiatives. For instance:

  • The House Ways and Means Health Subcommittee chairman and ranking member have released a bipartisan bill including a variety of Medicare fraud/abuse provisions, covering such issues as recovery audit contractors, prevention of

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The FDA has scheduled a public workshop on the “Framework for Regulatory Oversight of Laboratory Developed Tests” on January 8 – 9, 2015. The purpose of the workshop is to discuss FDA’s proposal for a risk-based framework for addressing the regulatory oversight of “laboratory developed tests,” a subset of vitro diagnostic devices intended…

On September 30, 2014, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced the availability of two draft guidances intended to implement a new regulatory oversight framework for LDTs, which are defined by the FDA as “a type of in vitro diagnostic test that is designed, manufactured and used within a single laboratory” and which are intended for clinical use. Release of the documents follows on the heels of FDA’s notification to Congress in late July of its intent to issue draft guidance in this area. The first draft guidance, “Framework for Regulatory Oversight of Laboratory Developed Tests (LDTs)” (Framework Guidance), describes a risk-based framework for addressing the regulatory oversight of LDTs. The Framework Guidance also describes FDA’s priorities for enforcing pre- and post-market requirements for LDTs, and the process by which FDA intends to phase in enforcement of FDA regulatory requirements for LDTs over time. The second draft guidance, “FDA Notification and Medical Device Reporting for Laboratory Developed Tests (LDTs)” (Notification and Reporting Guidance), describes the process for clinical laboratories to notify FDA of the LDTs they manufacture as well as the Medical Device Reporting (MDR) requirements for clinical laboratories that manufacture LDTs. Both draft guidances reflect the FDA’s effort to take steps to encourage the advancement of personalized medicine by helping to ensure the reliability of certain diagnostic tests. The guidances are neither final nor in effect at this time. 

The following is an overview of the specific issues addressed in the draft guidances:Continue Reading FDA Releases Two Draft Guidance Documents on Proposed Laboratory Developed Test (LDT) Regulatory Oversight

On September 9, 2014, the House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Health is holding a hearing entitled “21st Century Cures: Examining the Regulation of Laboratory Developed Tests.” The hearing will focus on the FDA’s recent guidance on the regulation of lab developed tests and its “impact on innovation and the practice of precision medicine.” The…

On September 9, 2014, the House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Health is holding a hearing entitled “21st Century Cures: Examining the Regulation of Laboratory Developed Tests.” The hearing will focus on the FDA’s recent guidance on the regulation of lab developed tests and its “impact on innovation and the practice of precision medicine.”