Clinical investigations with medical devices and assessment of performance with in vitro diagnostic medical devices

”Clinical investigation” – any systematic investigation involving one or several human subjects, conducted to assess the safety or performance of a medical device;

”Performance study” – a study conducted in order to establish or confirm the analytical or clinical performance of a device;

”Performance assessment” – assessment and analysis of data in order to establish or verify the scientific validity, the analytical performance and, where applicable, the clinical performance of a device;

”Device subject to investigation” – a device which is assessed in the context of a clinical investigation;

”In vitro diagnostic medical device subject to a performance study” – a device intended by the manufacturer to be used in a performance study.

A device intended to be used for research purposes, without any medical objective, is not considered a device subject to a performance study;

”Device performance” (for in vitro diagnostic medical devices) – the ability of a device to fulfil its intended purpose as indicated by the manufacturer. This consists of the analytical performance and, as the case may be, of the clinical performance which justifies the respective proposed purpose;

”Analytical performance” – the ability of a device to correctly detect or measure a particular analyte;

”Clinical performance” – the ability of a device to produce results correlated with a particular clinical condition or physiological or pathological condition or physiological or pathological process in accordance with the intended target population and user;

Clinical investigation endpoints:

(a) establishing and verifying whether the performance of the devices is as established by the manufacturer.
(b) establishing and verifying a device’s clinical benefits as specified by its manufacturer;
(c) determining any undesirable adverse reaction under normal circumstances of use and whether these are considered risks in relation to the device’s intended performance.

In order to approve the conduct of a clinical investigation, the sponsor/authorised representative submits an application to the NAMMDR; the form is available online: https://ec.europa.eu/health/sites/default/files/md_sector/docs/mdcg_2021-8_annex1.pdf. Depending on the risk class of the device, the existence of the CE mark and the purpose of the clinical investigation, this can be adapted.

The application is registered only if accompanied by proof of payment of the fee in line with Order of the Minister of Health no. 3467 of November 17, 2022, Annex 1, point 3 – Clinical investigation

(https://www.anm.ro/_/DM/LEGISLATIE/Ordin%203467-2022.pdf)

The form for payment of the fee can be downloaded from the Forms and fees / Medicinal products page:

https://www.anm.ro/en/dispozitive-medicale/formulare-si-tarife/

Following completion of the form for payment of the fee, this shall be submitted to the NAMMDR headquarters of 48 Aviator Maior Ștefan Sănătescu, Sector 1, 011478, Bucharest, and the respective request shall be invoiced by the NAMMDR. After making the payment and confirming it, you can register your application at the NAMMDR headquarters of 58 Nicolae Titulescu, Sector 1, 011144, Bucharest.

The NAMMDR approves applications for conduct of clinical investigations and clinical performance studies only if accompanied by an ethical opinion issued by the National Bioethics Committee for Medicinal Products and Medical Devices (CNBMDM) and by the documents provided for in Annex XV of the MDR and Annex XIV of the IVDR, as required. The CNBMDM can be contacted at: http://www.bioetica-medicala.ro; https://www.adsm.ro/comisia-de-bioetica-a-medicamentului-si-a-dispozitivelor-medicale/; email: comisia.bioetica@gmail.com.

The structure and the Regulation for organisation and operation of the National Bioethics Committee for Medicinal Products and Medical Devices (CNBMDM) are approved through Order of the Minister of Health no. 80/2023.

Clinical investigations with medical devices and clinical performance assessment studies with in vitro diagnostic medical devices are conducted in compliance with the principles of good clinical practice, in accordance with the SR EN ISO 14 155 and ISO 20 916 standards. The NAMMDR and the Medical Devices assess and validate requests for changes and assess and authorise the files for clinical investigations, as well as their substantial changes, according to:

  • MDR, Articles 61- 82, Annexes XIV and XV of 26 May 2021;
  • IVDR, Articles 56 –77, Annexes XIII and XIV of 26 May 2022;
  • Emergency Government Ordinance no. 46/09.06.2021 on national rules on clinical assessment and clinical investigations with medical devices, Article 16.
  • Government Emergency Ordinance no. 137/12.10.2022;
  • Order of the Minister of health no. 330/13.02.2023.

 

Useful documents:
Guidelines approved by the Medical Devices Coordination Group (MDCG) of the European Commission, DG SANTE, available online at:  https://health.ec.europa.eu/medical-devices-sector/new-regulations/guidance-mdcg-endorsed-documents-and-other-guidance_en:

 
Medicinal product – medical device combinations

There are various types of medicinal product-medical device combinations, as referred to in the MDR – Article 1 (9) and in the IVDR – Articles 2, 4, Annex II.

An eloquent description of these, as well as recommendations for enforcement of legal provisions can be found in the following documents made available by the European Medicines Agency (EMA):

  • Question-and-answer guidance on the implementation of these Regulations is available below, available online at: https://www.ema.europa.eu/en/human-regulatory/overview/medical-devices .
  • Questions & Answers for applicants, marketing authorisation holders of medicinal products and notified bodies with respect to the implementation of the Medical Devices and In Vitro Diagnostic Medical Devices Regulations ((EU) 2017/745 and (EU) 2017/746), available online at: https://www.ema.europa.eu/en/documents/regulatory-procedural-guideline/questions- answers-implementation-medical-devices-vitro-diagnostic-medical-devices-regulations-eu/745-eu-2017/746_en.pdf.
  • MDCG 2022 – 5 ”Guidance on borderline between medical devices and medicinal products under Regulation (EU) 2017/745 on medical devices” available online at: https://health.ec.europa.eu.

Clinical trials for combinations – medicinal product –medical device shall be submitted to the NAMMDR Clinical Trials Directorate (DSC). As the case may be, the DSC will either consult the DGDM for medical device documentation or the sponsor will have to submit in parallel an application for notification of the medical device of the combination to the DGDM. In most cases of medicinal product-medical device combinations, the latter (whether they are medical devices or in vitro diagnostic medical devices) must bear the CE marking.

For clinical investigations/clinical trials for assessment of performance with companion diagnostic medical devices (in vitro diagnostic medical devices – medicinal product) or combinations (medical device-medicinal product), a single ethical approval is required, granted by the National Bioethics Committee for Medicinal Products and Medical Devices (CNBMDM).

Useful contacts:

drsp@anm.ro – for SAE reporting as well

dsc@anm.ro – For clinical trials on medicinal products and combinations with medicinal products