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HARMONISED APPROACH TO EARLY FEASIBILITY STUDIES FOR MEDICAL DEVICES IN THE EUROPEAN UNION

Project description

New framework for early feasibility studies for medical devices

EU regulations mandate a lifecycle approach to generate clinical evidence for medical devices (MD). A comprehensive evidence-generation plan, shaped by stakeholder input, is crucial in early product development. Early feasibility studies (EFS) are part of the pre-market clinical investigations, yet the EU lacks standardised frameworks for EFS. The EU-funded HEU-EFS project seeks to establish a harmonised framework for the EU EFS programme. The initiative involves analysing pre-market MD programmes, devising a widely applicable EU methodology, conducting pilot use-cases, developing tools for EFS performance monitoring and establishing an accessible online portal. The HEU-EFS consortium comprises research organisations, patient organisations, health technology assessment bodies, healthcare providers, SMEs, legal experts and six major private companies.

Objective

EU Regulations on medical devices (MDs), in-vitro diagnostics, and Health Technology Assessment envisage a harmonised lifecycle approach for clinical evidence generation of MDs. To be effective this approach requires evidence generation plan to be developed since early stages of product development, by engaging all relevant stakeholders.
At present, in the EU there are no standardized procedural frameworks/guidelines/common reference standards for Early Feasibility Studies (EFS), clinical investigations allowed by ISO 14155:2020 conducted early in the development aiming to inform the product development.
The ambition of the HEU-EFS project is to develop a harmonised framework for the EU EFS Program, as one integrated step of evidence generation cycle. Project objectives include: (1) conducting research/analysis on state of play (i.e. characteristics, challenges, impacts) of pre-market programs for MDs, including EFS; (2) building a sustainable network of stakeholders at EU/national level to promote/support EFS implementation; (3) developing a sound, widely applicable, harmonised EU methodology and formulating recommendations to uptake EFS; (4) undertaking pilots to test the proposed framework; (5) developing instruments to monitor the EFS performance; and (6) implementing a dedicated, sustainable, open access online portal dedicated to EFS methodological framework, best practices and network.
To achieve these goals, the HEU-EFS consortium has been designed including a wide range of relevant stakeholders: research organisations, HTA bodies, patient organizations, healthcare providers, SMEs (including health technology developers, legal experts, and a CRO), and 6 major private companies that are part of a pre-identified industry consortium. An Advisory Board made of competent authorities, notified bodies, medical and biomedical engineering professional associations, networks and industry trade association will collaborate to the success of the initiative.

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Programme(s)

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Topic(s)

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Funding Scheme

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HORIZON-JU-RIA - HORIZON JU Research and Innovation Actions

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Call for proposal

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(opens in new window) HORIZON-JU-IHI-2022-02-two-stage

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Coordinator

UNIVERSITA COMMERCIALE LUIGI BOCCONI
Net EU contribution

Net EU financial contribution. The sum of money that the participant receives, deducted by the EU contribution to its linked third party. It considers the distribution of the EU financial contribution between direct beneficiaries of the project and other types of participants, like third-party participants.

€ 3 999 488,75
Address
VIA SARFATTI 25
20136 Milano
Italy

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Region
Nord-Ovest Lombardia Milano
Activity type
Higher or Secondary Education Establishments
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Total cost

The total costs incurred by this organisation to participate in the project, including direct and indirect costs. This amount is a subset of the overall project budget.

€ 3 999 488,75

Participants (38)

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