Long Road To Unique Device Identification: FDA’s ‘Mr. UDI’ Offers Peek Behind Curtain

The man who coined the term “Unique Device Identification,” Jay Crowley, opens up in an interview about hurdles FDA faced in setting up the system; anxiety he felt when Congress set a deadline for the final rule to be published; and why he believes UDI would have eventually happened organically anyway, among other UDI-related topics. “Sometimes people call me Mr. UDI … I think that name might stick for a while,” jokes Crowley, who planted seeds in 2002 for FDA’s new regulation to track and trace products. Since then it has mushroomed into an emerging program that has the backing of a majority in industry.