FDA Sends Record-Low Warning Letters To Device-Makers In 2017 As Agency Takes More Personalized Compliance, Enforcement Tack

Medical device firms were issued 35 quality-related warning letters by US FDA last calendar year – the lowest number recorded since the agency's Quality System Regulation came into force in 1996. Officials in FDA's device center stressed in an interview with Medtech Insight that there's no specific reason why so few letters were mailed to companies in 2017, although they said the agency's ongoing compliance and enforcement outreach to device-makers might have played a role in last year's anemic count. Also: Might FDA apply "least burdensome" concepts to its warning letter and close-out processes?