Once again I’ve asked Karen Fleshman, co-founder and COO of Haskins Advisory Group, to step in and cover the recent EU MDR and IVDR Conference that focused on Unique Device Identification (UDI). I’ll return after the holidays with more coverage of pharma serialization. Thanks Karen! –Dirk.
On December 4 – 6, 2017, the European Medical Device (MDR) and In Vitro Diagnostic Medical Device (IVDR) Regulations Conference was held in Orlando, FL. The conference was designed to educate, support, and assist US based medical device manufacturers in gaining critical insight on the requirements of the European Union (EU)’s Unique Device Identification (UDI) compliance program. Continue reading European Medical Device and In Vitro Diagnostic Medical Device Regulations Conference
I am writing this from Mumbai India where I am scheduled to speak at the 
There is a long-running tug-of-war going on between GS1 and national governments around the world over how exactly to identify medical products, whether devices or pharmaceuticals. National governments regulate those products to maximize the health of their citizens and so they take a natural interest in how they are identified. They want to eliminate all ambiguity between products within their market. They need to be able to tightly grant market authorization, revoke it and oversee recalls when warranted. To do that effectively, they need a way of clearly and concisely referencing a given product. That same way of referencing the product should also be used for patient education and for healthcare professional prescribing. 
