Explaining the Significance of Voluntary Consensus Standards

What are Voluntary Consensus Standards? Why should you care about them? What role do they play in your regulatory submission process? In this episode, Mike Drues of Vascular Sciences and I discuss the importance of such standards that affect medical device professionals. Some of the highlights of the show include: ● Guidance and regulation are voluntary. You can comply or not. If something doesn’t make sense, justify why and describe what you plan to do instead. ● FDA’s guidance document provides information on what standards it will accept and recognize. FDA doesn’t recognize all recognized standards. ● There’s a correlation between consensus standards and regulatory pathways. The abbreviated 510(k) is the most important pathway for standards. ● Declaration of Conformity: Provide proof/objective evidence. Companies need to have data/information available, but don’t need to include it in a submission. ● Don’t assume that FDA reviewers are experts in your technology or standard. A company needs to be the expert that makes FDA reviewer’s job easier. ● Standards are not hoops that you have to jump through. They can offer significant, strategic, or competitive advantages. ● Standards that promote the safety and efficacy of your product should be followed, but many are becoming too complicated and don’t make sense.