{"id":6741,"date":"2026-06-03T11:03:56","date_gmt":"2026-06-03T05:33:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/operonstrategist.com\/?p=6741"},"modified":"2026-06-03T11:03:56","modified_gmt":"2026-06-03T05:33:56","slug":"fda-is-modernizing-its-510k-program","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/operonstrategist.com\/br-en\/fda-is-modernizing-its-510k-program\/","title":{"rendered":"FDA Is Modernizing Its 510(k) Program, On How Old A Predicate Device Is"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t<div data-elementor-type=\"wp-post\" data-elementor-id=\"6741\" class=\"elementor elementor-6741\" data-elementor-post-type=\"post\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-620ec2db e-flex e-con-boxed e-con e-parent\" data-id=\"620ec2db\" data-element_type=\"container\" data-e-type=\"container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"e-con-inner\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-23214779 elementor-widget elementor-widget-heading\" data-id=\"23214779\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"heading.default\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<h1 class=\"elementor-heading-title elementor-size-default\">FDA Is Modernizing Its 510(k) Program, On How Old A Predicate Device Is<\/h1>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-293879f3 e-flex e-con-boxed e-con e-parent\" data-id=\"293879f3\" data-element_type=\"container\" data-e-type=\"container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"e-con-inner\">\n\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-400ca58 e-con-full e-flex e-con e-child\" data-id=\"400ca58\" data-element_type=\"container\" data-e-type=\"container\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-5a470305 elementor-widget elementor-widget-text-editor\" data-id=\"5a470305\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"text-editor.default\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Food and Drug Administration\u2019s modernization plan for its 510(k) Program may not be all sweet music to the industry. In a joint statement on Monday describing the modernization effort, Commissioner Scott Gottlieb and Jeffrey Shuren, director of the Center for Devices and Radiological Health, said that the agency is considering placing a 10-year limit on older predicates. In other words, if you as a medical device manufacturer are developing a product with a predicate to gain 510(k) market clearance, then that predicate cannot have been introduced to the market more than 10 years ago.<\/span><\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cOur objective in concentrating on more established predicates is to drive supporters to constantly offer patients devices with the most recent upgrades and advances,\\\u201d the announcement read.<\/span><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-24f5e276 e-con-full e-flex e-con e-child\" data-id=\"24f5e276\" data-element_type=\"container\" data-e-type=\"container\">\n\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-3f02c114 e-con-full e-flex e-con e-child\" data-id=\"3f02c114\" data-element_type=\"container\" data-e-type=\"container\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-1e3972b elementor-widget elementor-widget-heading\" data-id=\"1e3972b\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"heading.default\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<h4 class=\"elementor-heading-title elementor-size-default\">talk to our experts<\/h4>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-6fca9ede elementor-widget elementor-widget-wpforms\" data-id=\"6fca9ede\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"wpforms.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"wpforms-container wpforms-container-full wpforms-render-modern\" id=\"wpforms-6203\"><form id=\"wpforms-form-6203\" class=\"wpforms-validate wpforms-form wpforms-ajax-form\" data-formid=\"6203\" method=\"post\" enctype=\"multipart\/form-data\" action=\"\/br-en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6741\" data-token=\"947330bc31d331298c2701c8bb1074b8\" data-token-time=\"1780602139\"><noscript class=\"wpforms-error-noscript\">Please enable JavaScript in your browser to complete this form.<\/noscript><div id=\"wpforms-error-noscript\" style=\"display: none;\">Please enable JavaScript in your browser to complete this form.<\/div><div class=\"wpforms-field-container\"><div id=\"wpforms-6203-field_1-container\" class=\"wpforms-field wpforms-field-name\" data-field-id=\"1\"><label class=\"wpforms-field-label wpforms-label-hide\" for=\"wpforms-6203-field_1\" aria-hidden=\"false\">Name <span class=\"wpforms-required-label\" aria-hidden=\"true\">*<\/span><\/label><input type=\"text\" id=\"wpforms-6203-field_1\" class=\"wpforms-field-large wpforms-field-required\" name=\"wpforms[fields][1]\" placeholder=\"Name*\" aria-errormessage=\"wpforms-6203-field_1-error\" required><\/div>\t\t<div id=\"wpforms-6203-field_5-container\"\n\t\t\tclass=\"wpforms-field wpforms-field-text\"\n\t\t\tdata-field-type=\"text\"\n\t\t\tdata-field-id=\"5\"\n\t\t\t>\n\t\t\t<label class=\"wpforms-field-label\" for=\"wpforms-6203-field_5\" >Text Phone Name<\/label>\n\t\t\t<input type=\"text\" id=\"wpforms-6203-field_5\" class=\"wpforms-field-medium\" name=\"wpforms[fields][5]\" >\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<div id=\"wpforms-6203-field_2-container\" class=\"wpforms-field wpforms-field-email\" data-field-id=\"2\"><label class=\"wpforms-field-label wpforms-label-hide\" for=\"wpforms-6203-field_2\" aria-hidden=\"false\">Email <span class=\"wpforms-required-label\" aria-hidden=\"true\">*<\/span><\/label><input type=\"email\" id=\"wpforms-6203-field_2\" class=\"wpforms-field-large wpforms-field-required\" name=\"wpforms[fields][2]\" placeholder=\"Email*\" spellcheck=\"false\" aria-errormessage=\"wpforms-6203-field_2-error\" required><\/div><div id=\"wpforms-6203-field_3-container\" class=\"wpforms-field wpforms-field-phone\" data-field-id=\"3\"><label class=\"wpforms-field-label wpforms-label-hide\" for=\"wpforms-6203-field_3\" aria-hidden=\"false\">Phone <span class=\"wpforms-required-label\" aria-hidden=\"true\">*<\/span><\/label><input type=\"tel\" id=\"wpforms-6203-field_3\" class=\"wpforms-field-large wpforms-field-required wpforms-smart-phone-field\" data-rule-smart-phone-field=\"true\" name=\"wpforms[fields][3]\" placeholder=\"Phone*\" aria-label=\"Phone\" aria-errormessage=\"wpforms-6203-field_3-error\" required><\/div><div id=\"wpforms-6203-field_4-container\" class=\"wpforms-field wpforms-field-textarea\" data-field-id=\"4\"><label class=\"wpforms-field-label wpforms-label-hide\" for=\"wpforms-6203-field_4\" aria-hidden=\"false\">Paragraph Text <span class=\"wpforms-required-label\" aria-hidden=\"true\">*<\/span><\/label><textarea id=\"wpforms-6203-field_4\" class=\"wpforms-field-medium wpforms-field-required\" name=\"wpforms[fields][4]\" placeholder=\"Message\" aria-errormessage=\"wpforms-6203-field_4-error\" required><\/textarea><\/div><script>\n\t\t\t\t( function() {\n\t\t\t\t\tconst style = document.createElement( 'style' );\n\t\t\t\t\tstyle.appendChild( document.createTextNode( '#wpforms-6203-field_5-container { position: absolute !important; overflow: hidden !important; display: inline !important; height: 1px !important; width: 1px !important; z-index: -1000 !important; padding: 0 !important; } #wpforms-6203-field_5-container input { visibility: hidden; } #wpforms-conversational-form-page #wpforms-6203-field_5-container label { counter-increment: none; }' ) );\n\t\t\t\t\tdocument.head.appendChild( style );\n\t\t\t\t\tdocument.currentScript?.remove();\n\t\t\t\t} )();\n\t\t\t<\/script><\/div><!-- .wpforms-field-container --><div class=\"wpforms-recaptcha-container wpforms-is-recaptcha wpforms-is-recaptcha-type-v3\" ><input type=\"hidden\" name=\"wpforms[recaptcha]\" value=\"\"><\/div><div class=\"wpforms-submit-container\" ><input type=\"hidden\" name=\"wpforms[id]\" value=\"6203\"><input type=\"hidden\" name=\"page_title\" value=\"\"><input type=\"hidden\" name=\"page_url\" value=\"https:\/\/operonstrategist.com\/br-en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6741\"><input type=\"hidden\" name=\"url_referer\" value=\"\"><button type=\"submit\" name=\"wpforms[submit]\" id=\"wpforms-submit-6203\" class=\"wpforms-submit\" data-alt-text=\"Sending...\" data-submit-text=\"Submit\" aria-live=\"assertive\" value=\"wpforms-submit\">Submit<\/button><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/operonstrategist.com\/wp-content\/plugins\/wpforms\/assets\/images\/submit-spin.svg\" class=\"wpforms-submit-spinner\" style=\"display: none;\" width=\"26\" height=\"26\" alt=\"Loading\"><\/div><\/form><\/div>  <!-- .wpforms-container -->\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-7ebc5c5c e-flex e-con-boxed e-con e-parent\" data-id=\"7ebc5c5c\" data-element_type=\"container\" data-e-type=\"container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"e-con-inner\">\n\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-5f2ca459 e-con-full e-flex e-con e-child\" data-id=\"5f2ca459\" data-element_type=\"container\" data-e-type=\"container\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-12c9c452 elementor-widget elementor-widget-text-editor\" data-id=\"12c9c452\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"text-editor.default\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The 510(k) program of course is the most-used regulatory pathway for devices that are \u201csubstantially equivalent\u201d to an already legally marketed device, known as a predicate device. Last year, the CDRH cleared 3,173 through the 510(k) process, representing 82 percent of all medical devices cleared or approved by the FDA.<\/span><\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The program has been scrutinized heavily for several years as reports of serious adverse events have rocked the industry from time to time. Back in 2011, a year after Shuren took over as CDRH director, the Institute of Medicine made a dire assessment recommending that the agency must abandon the 510(k) pathway altogether.<\/span><\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">FDA never accepted that recommendation but in recent years has made what it believes are efforts to alter and improve the program and encourage innovation while focusing on safety as well. It is the same dual interest that is driving the idea of sunsetting certain older predicates.<\/span><\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In their statement, Messers Shuren and Gottlieb go on to clarify that they in no way intend to pull products with older predicates off the market or imply that they are unsafe. The desire is to simply encourage \u201cproduct developers to use more modern predicates\u201d that\u00a0 would give \u201cpatients and their doctors a choice among older and newer versions of a type of device\u201d in addition to \u201cboosting competition to adopt tech features that improve a device\u2019s safety and performance.\u201d<\/span><\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Were this to occur, it represents a big, fundamental shift in <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.fda.gov\/medicaldevices\/productsandmedicalprocedures\/deviceapprovalsandclearances\/510kclearances\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">how the 510(k) program<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. According to the FDA nearly 20 percent of current 510(k)s are cleared based on a predicate that\u2019s more than 10 years old. Not surprisingly, the device industry association did not like what it heard.<\/span><\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cIt is our hope that through the regulatory review, the agency will recognize that in some cases there are legitimate reasons for using older predicates, and that for some devices where the technology has changed little using those older predicates still makes sense,\u201d The proposed 10-year cut off criteria could demonstrate self-assertive as more established predicates can offer broad information about their execution, which enables\u00a0 sponsors to present newer , more secure devices.\u201d<\/span><\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">One regulatory attorney implied that the FDA may be overreaching in its attempt to limit the time period when choosing an older predicate.<\/span><\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cIf FDA believes this is an issue, the appropriate forum for discussing it is Congress,\u201d said Bradley Merrill Thompson, an attorney with Becker Epstein Green, in an email. \u201cThe 1976 statute is very clear, and FDA can\u2019t simply ignore it. If FDA wants to change the statute, then to Congress they should go. Congress in turn could bring together all of the various stakeholders including patients, healthcare professionals and medical device manufacturers to talk about the they need and the best way to do this. FDA has no mandate to do this on its own.<\/span><\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In a way, FDA has already forged its own path given that with the introduction of the FDA pre-certification program for software, the agency essentially bypassed Congress. But the statement from Shuren and Gottlieb acknowledge that some of these policy proposals may require \u201cadditional support from Congress.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-29a9c8f elementor-widget elementor-widget-heading\" data-id=\"29a9c8f\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"heading.default\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<h2 class=\"elementor-heading-title elementor-size-default\">Another regulatory expert also believes that the 10-year sunset may be a tough road to hoe for FDA.\n<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-c489222 elementor-widget elementor-widget-text-editor\" data-id=\"c489222\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"text-editor.default\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The statement is also, in part, aspirational on how the agency can address clearing devices more efficiently without compromising safety and effectiveness,\u201d wrote Kathleen McDermott, a partner from Morgan Lewis, in an email. \u201cIn proposing to sunset predicate devices older than 10 years, some of which have decades of safety and performance data, the agency will have to be clear in the standards being developed or risk uncertainty and unpredictability.\u201d<\/span><\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">More significantly, however, the statement showed that the agency is also creating an alternative 510(k) framework and will finalize it in early 2019 called the \u201cSafety and Performance Based Pathway.\u201d That will rely on objective safety and performance criteria to demonstrate substantial equivalence, instead of relying on sometimes decades-old predicate devices.<\/span><\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Perhaps in a nod to the makers of the Bleeding Edge, the compelling Netflix documentary that savaged the 510(k) program by telling the stories of patients hurt by defective implants, the FDA statement made clear that the agency will continue to change the classification of certain devices deemed more risky than initially when they were cleared under the 510(k) pathway. The statement noted:<\/span><\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Through a procedure known as \u201cup-classifying\u201d \u2013 implying that we are re-appointing a device to Class III and requiring premarket approval, our most stringent review pathway, before a device can stay available \u2013 we can and have made ineligible the utilization of specific devices as legitimate predicates. Explicit precedents incorporate the upclassification of recently cleared 510(k)s for vaginal mesh for the treatment of pelvic organ prolapse, mechanized external defibrillators, and metal-on-metal hip implants. These devices are higher risk and can never again be conveyed to advertise by means of the 510(k) pathway.<\/span><\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">For instance in January 2016, transvaginal mesh devices \u2014 that scarred and hurt many women \u2014 went from the less-moderate Class II classification to the <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.fda.gov\/newsevents\/newsroom\/pressannouncements\/ucm479732.htm\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">more stringent Class III category<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, which meant that these devices would then on be required to be approved under the more taxing PMA (premarket approval) pathway.<\/span><\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Meanwhile, while FDA clarified its stance on these higher-risk devices, other safety questions loom. The International Consortium of Investigative Journalists has just published an investigative series on problematic implants and the medical device industry in general that is bound to cast a long shadow over the regulatory path. NBC News has also published an article about how U.S.-made devices have hurt patients abroad.<\/span><\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The risk from medical devices is not unknown to FDA and in Monday\u2019s statement, Shuren and Gottlieb observe that the agency is beefing up post-market surveillance efforts. Earlier it created the <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.fda.gov\/aboutfda\/centersoffices\/officeofmedicalproductsandtobacco\/cdrh\/cdrhreports\/ucm301912.htm\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">National Evaluation System for health Technology (NEST)<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, an active surveillance system that will real-world evidence and safety information. But on Monday the statement showed that the agency is\u00a0 committed to a \u201cnew strategic goal: Guaranteeing that the FDA is reliably first among the world\\\u2019s regulatory agencies to recognize and follow up on security signals identified with\u00a0 medical devices.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Food and Drug Administration\u2019s modernization plan for its 510(k) Program may not be all sweet music to the industry. In a joint statement on Monday describing the modernization effort, Commissioner Scott Gottlieb and Jeffrey Shuren, director of the Center for Devices and Radiological Health, said that the agency is considering placing a 10-year limit on [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":7408,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6741","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-us-fda"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/operonstrategist.com\/br-en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6741","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/operonstrategist.com\/br-en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/operonstrategist.com\/br-en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/operonstrategist.com\/br-en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/operonstrategist.com\/br-en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6741"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/operonstrategist.com\/br-en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6741\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/operonstrategist.com\/br-en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7408"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/operonstrategist.com\/br-en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6741"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/operonstrategist.com\/br-en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6741"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/operonstrategist.com\/br-en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6741"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}