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Index: Investigational Devices


University of Utah IRB indexes for FDA requirements and guidance do not reflect all of the available guidance and resources published by the FDA. The University of Utah IRB has complied the indexes with commonly used information from the FDA.  Consult www.fda.gov for additional information about FDA requirements and guidance.

Clinical Investigations of Devices

Investigational Device Classification
Overview of IDE Requirements & Applicable Regulations
Guidance
Significant Risk (SR) Devices
A significant risk device means and investigational device that:
  1. Is intended as an implant and presents a potential for serious risk to the health, safety, or welfare of a subject;
  2. Is purported or represented to be for the use in supporting or sustaining human life and presents a potential for serious risk to the health, safety, or welfare of a subject;
  3. Is for a use of substantial importance in diagnosing, curing, mitigating, or treating disease, or otherwise preventing impairment of human health and presents a potential for serious risk to the health, safety, or welfare of a subject; or
  4. Otherwise presents a potential for serious risk to the health, safety, or welfare of a subject.
(21 CFR 812.3(m))
  • IDE needed
  • IDE issued by FDA only
  • Follow all IDE regulations
IDE Regulations: 21 CFR 812 Consent and IRB Review: 21 CFR 50 & 56
Non Significant Risk (NSR) Devices

A non significant risk device is one that does not meet the definition for a significant risk device.

(FDA Information Sheet Guidance: Significant Risk and Nonsignificant Risk Medical Device Studies. January 2006)

    • IDE needed
    • IDE issued by FDA or IRB
    • Follow abbreviated IDE regulations

    Abbreviated IDE Regulations:
    21 CFR 812.2(b)

    These abbreviated requirements address labeling, IRB approval, informed consent, monitoring, records, reports, and prohibition against promotion. However, there is no need to make progress reports or final reports to FDA.

    Pre-NSR Device Audit Checklist [DOC]
    (NOTE: A pre-NSR audit is not usually required.  The IRB will notify you during pre-review if an audit is needed.)

    Consent and IRB Review:
    21 CFR 50 & 56

Exempt Devices

Exemption categories are defined in 21 CFR 812.2(c).

  • No IDE needed
  • Exemption issued by IRB
  • Follow regulations consent and IRB review

Consent and IRB Review:
21 CFR 50 & 56

Additional Guidance for Clinical Investigations of Devices

Non-Investigational Use of Devices

Humanitarian Use Devices (HUD)

As defined in 21 CFR 814.3(n), a HUD is a “medical device intended to benefit patients in the treatment or diagnosis of a disease or condition that affects or is manifested in fewer than 4,000 individuals in the United States per year.”

A Humanitarian Device Exemption (HDE) is an application that is similar to a premarket approval (PMA) application, but is exempt from the effectiveness requirements of sections 514 and 515 of the Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (the Act). FDA approval of an HDE authorizes an applicant to market a Humanitarian Use Device (HUD), subject to certain profit and use restrictions set forth in section 520(m) of the Act. Specifically, as described below, HUDs cannot be sold for profit, except in narrow circumstances, and they can only be used in a facility after an IRB has approved their use in that facility, except in certain emergencies.

(Humanitarian Device Exemption (HDE) Regulation: Questions and Answers. March 18, 2014)

Treatment use of an HUD under an HDE is not considered investigational.

Expanded Access to Investigational Devices

The Food and Drug Administration's Expanded Access Program allows for devices that are investigational (i.e., not FDA approved) to be used for treatment use outside of a clinical trial.