Combination Products Review Program: Progress and Potential

Posted on December 2, 2016 by FDA Voice

By: Nina L. Hunter, Ph.D., and Robert M. Califf, M.D.

Nina L. Hunter, Ph.D., FDA’s Associate Director for Science Policy in the Office of Medical Products and Tobacco

About a year ago, we shared with you our Combination Product Review, Intercenter Consult Process Study Report, which was developed by FDA’s Office of Planning. The report’s findings were derived from focus group studies with reviewers from FDA’s different Centers and included input from industry. Since then, we have built on foundational policies and processes to address many of the issues identified in the report.

The team has made tremendous progress toward the goal of modernizing the combination products review program by improving coordination, ensuring consistency, enhancing clarity, and providing transparency within the Agency as well as with all stakeholders. We are excited to share our progress with you now. The table below summarizes some key achievements from the past year, including publication of draft guidances, a variety of new processes, and a look at future goals.

Robert Califf, M.D., is Commissioner of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration

As technologies advance across multiple fields, the distinctions that previously allowed combination products to be neatly categorized by FDA’s medical product centers are blurring or even vanishing.

Combination products account for a growing proportion of products submitted for review, and FDA will continue to pursue new approaches to collaboration that ensure safe, effective and innovative medical products are made available to patients as quickly as possible. Continued collaboration with you, our stakeholders, will be critical as together we continue to make progress in this important area.

We are still listening and have much more work to do!