A research report from RWS, a provider of technology-enabled language, content management and intellectual property services, highlights the impact of COVID-19 on medical device manufacturers, and their readiness to meet the European Union’s (EU) Medical Device regulation (MDR) and In Vitro Diagnostic Regulation (IVDR) deadline.

The research, involving leading medical device organisations operating in Europe, looks at how the pandemic has affected their preparations to meet the 26 May 2021 deadline for the EU MDR, and EU IVDR deadline of 26 May 2022. The research paints an optimistic picture: almost three-quarters (70%) of organisations are positive about meeting the MDR deadline, while 69% remain positive about meeting the IVDR deadline in 2022.

The findings include:

• 44% of organisations admit the MDR and IVDR regulations are their top priority, and over half (53%) say they will be impacted by both requirements.
• 42% say their technology stack evolution is the most important transformation initiative they have put in place to complete EU MDR/EU IVDR compliance.
• 56% of organisations felt that COVID-19 had a “significant” impact on supply chain management. Meanwhile 45% of respondents said COVID-19 had the most impact on their strategic planning for 2021.
• When asked what specific challenges the respondents faced during the COVID-19 crisis, 50% said increased or decreased product manufacturing demand had the most impact on their business.

Jon Hart, president of RWS Regulated Industries, said: “While it’s a positive sign that organisations feel optimistic about meeting their MDR and IVDR commitments, there’s clearly a lot of work to do post-pandemic. The decisions that medical manufacturing organisations make now won’t just affect their ability to comply with these two regulations, they will also play a continuing role in how quickly and effectively they can meet compliance standards in years to come. Introducing automation into the content management and translation process is a good first step, but a more visionary end-to-end solution that spans the manufacturing organisation and the supply chain will better prepare organisations for the inevitable introduction of future regulations.”

Meeting the May deadline

Based on the survey results, organisations are advised to explore the following approaches to meet short and long-term commitments:

• Automation will be necessary to quickly meet compliance standards during and beyond EU MDR and EU IVDR implementation.
• Implement new technologies that will give you more visibility into the supply chain. It will also help with compliance and vendor management.
• Audit the current software and data environment to ensure it enables compliance with these regulations. If not, investments in new solutions or new partnerships may be necessary.
• Accelerate multilingual content creation with secure automation and technology to support a more streamlined process for internal and external authors, reviewers and approvers of translated content.

The RWS research report, “EU MDR & IVDR and Their Impact on the Medical Device Industry,” can be downloaded here.