Device official William Maisel has announced plans to retire from the US Food and Drug Administration this spring.
News We’re Watching: CDRH’s Maisel Announces Retirement, Fresenius Clearance, Philips and Smiths Recalls
This week, a device center stalwart prepared to say goodbye; the FDA cleared Fresenius's 5008X Hemodialysis System; and class I recalls for Smiths Medical and Philips Imaging were announced.

More from Regulation
A seemingly humorous social media post on April Fool’s Day struck a nerve with regulatory experts, reflecting real concerns about recent actions by the US Food and Drug Administration.
Mass FDA layoffs on 1 April were designed to spare product reviewers, but still touched many who are critical to the application review process or drug development, which could mean fewer treatments are brought to the US market first.
About 200 staff in the FDA’s Center for Devices and Radiological Health were among the 3,500 FDA employees let go in today’s staff reductions. The cuts, which one employee described as a “Manhattan Project” to the center, are already having a major effect on staff morale.
AdvaMed’s top priorities for the 119th Congress include modernizing US Medicare services and expanding patients’ access to the latest medical technologies.
More from News We're Watching
This week, Establishment Labs Holdings announced the FDA gave it premarket approval for Motiva breast implant, Cologuard lands FDA approval for Cologuard Plus and GE HealthCare gets FDA nod for a new imaging agent. The FDA announces another expansion for TAP into ophthalmology and radiology. The AAMI and CTA will join forces to develop standards for AI and ML-enabled health care products.
This week, the FDA announced a new head of its device evaluation office; synthetic genomics firm Constructive Bio landed $58m in funding; and Natera got a permanent injuction against NeoGenomics Labs' RaDaR assay.
This week, Neuralink announced it received US FDA breakthrough device designation for a device to restore sight; medtechs Discure and DeepLook secured new funding; FDA pump recalls from B. Braun Medical and Fresenius Kabi; Axonics prevails in patent infringement lawsuit with Medtronic; Merit Medical buys Cook Medical for $210m.