News


TGA Annual Invoicing Time – Avoid ARTG Cancellations

If you are a medical device sponsor, you would have received or you are about to receive the TGA annual charge invoice. It is important to ensure all your details are up to date with the TGA and that the payment of the invoice is done no later than September 15th to avoid cancellations of your ARTG Certificate. If you qualified in the past for the Low Value Turnover (LVT) scheme, from July 1st 2015 the scheme was replaced by the Annual Charge Exemption (ACE) scheme. The TGA pre-qualified certain entries that......

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TGA Joint Replacements Refunds on Related Ancillary Devices

After the reclassification of hip, knee and shoulder joint replacement from Class IIb to Class III medical devices on 1 July 2012, there was a 3 year transition to complete the reclassification process. The reclassification in Australia was modelled on the reclassification of these implants in the EU as Class III implants. During the Australian transition, it became apparent that there were differences in interpretation of the classification rules within the EU itself. And since many manufacturers rely on European certification to support market entry in Australia, it was agreed that clarification......

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New TGA Business Site

In an effort to improve the current customer experience with the TGA ebs site, the TGA has developed a new customer friendly portal that promises to improve the on-line experience for manufacturers, sponsors and TGA agents. The new site is being launched on Tuesday 28 April 2015 and will be called TGA Business Services. There will be a series of upgrades that will be slowly implemented. The first upgrade will allow eBS clients to access a user-friendly site that will allow them to: Access and manage their contact details and other information,......

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Red light on ANZTPA

The establishment a joint therapeutic products regulator between Australia and New Zealand will no longer continue. Recently the Australian and New Zealand governments announced their agreement to cease the Australia New Zealand Therapeutic Products Agency (ANZTPA). After conducting a comprehensive review of progress and assessment of the costs, it was determined that the mutual Agency was not going to benefit either country....

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Conformity Assessment limitations to be removed for Australian manufacturers of medical devices

The following announcement was made in October by the Therapeutic Goods Administration: ‘New regulations will be introduced to allow Australian manufacturers to obtain market approval for most medical devices using conformity assessment certification from European notified bodies.’ Fiona Nash, The Assistant Minister for Health, announced that, under the Government’s Industry Innovation and Competitiveness Agenda, new regulations will be introduced to allow Australian manufacturers to obtain market approval for most medical devices using conformity assessment certification from European notified bodies. This change will benefit Australian manufacturers by providing them with process flexibility and......

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KD&A's Guide of Guides - Australia

The world of medical device regulation is a complicated one. There is a lot of guidance documents available, but it’s very difficult to tell which will be useful and practical in the early stages of understanding the Australian regulatory framework. KD&A have put together a list of what we consider to be our vital five Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) guidance documents. Here they are:   The Australian Regulatory Guidelines for Medical Devices (ARGMD). This is the go to document for all TGA medical device related information. Broken up into 3 sections, this......

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Updated Standards to Keep Manufacturer's Busy

This year will see the introduction of many new or revised harmonised standards relating to medical devices. Harmonised standards are used by medical device and IVD manufacturers to demonstrate compliance with Regulations and Directives. They provide a guide for manufacturers to demonstrate compliance and take the guess work out of the selecting suitable testing, materials, design features, etc....

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Revised Medical Device Definitions Implemented in New Zealand – Effective 1 July 2014

In preparation for the merge of the Australian Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) and New Zealand (NZ) Medsafe, Medsafe have published a change the existing process for defining medical devices and pharmaceuticals in NZ. Medsafe has released the Medicines Amendment Act of 2013 which alters the existing Medsafe system to align more closely with Australia’s framework for determination and classification from 1 July 2014. As part of this change, Medsafe have developed product categorisation guidelines to reflect the updated definitions and guidance manufacturers. Medsafe now distinguishes devices from drugs based on mode of......

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Medical Device Software - Potential for Consistent Regulation in Asia

The Asian Harmonization Working Party (AHWP) has published a white paper on medical software for comment. The AHWP has developed the paper in conjunction with the EU and the US with the aim of developing a consistent approach for a regulatory framework for medical software to be shared among the AHWP. Singapore has been a primary contributor to the paper which provides an overview of requirements in place for medical device software in larger jurisdictions such as Australia, the US, EU, Japan, and Canada. In a story published by Clinica, Peter Linders,......

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