John Brennan

The recent report from the European Commission into the reuse of single use medical devices reminds me of Hamlet. The Danish prince, like the Commission in their report, had to contemplate the nature of action, and whether to suffer The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune, Or to take arms against a sea of troubles […]

In an ideal world we would have the same rules on devices in each country.  As patients, as we live or travel in different countries, we can be confident that should we fall ill, the devices used to help us are as safe as the ones at home.  As businesses, we would be confident that […]

On the 29th October all the votes were in and it seems that nothing more than EU paperwork stands between us and our first compulsory European database for medical devices, the infamous ‘Eudamed’ database. I say compulsory because ‘Eudamed’, as our European device database is known, has been in place for many years, but it […]

I put it down to Irish politeness to always say “no” first when asked if we want something and to follow up with a “yes” when asked the second time. “Will you have a cup of Lisbon tea?Oh no thank you, I’ve had quite enough already.Are you sure? I’ve just made some and I can […]

Watching TV the other night I came across an excellent set of ‘reportages’ into the health sector.

An interesting article in the latest issue of Clinica.  David Nicolson, the CEO of the UK’s National Health Service (NHS) speaking at the Innovation Expo meeting stressed the importance of investing in innovation for long-term benefits and warned the NHS against isolating itself and becoming risk-averse.Clearly the what Eucomed has been alerting policy makers to […]

Just sitting at the airport after what was an excellent Global Harmonization Task Force Conference. Well done Steve Dibert and his crew, not to mention Health Canada. Who says regulatory affairs is boring! This conference really put the moose among the pigeons! We had a truly gripping opening session from Dr. Robert Jackson, the renowned […]

I’m just back from an extended trip to Sweden where I was invited to present at Swedish Medtech’s AGM (it was my first trip to Sweden so I tagged on a few days leave). Great event and a great country; if you haven’t visited yet, you have to go! I have always found Swedish people […]

Just back from Easter holidays and picked up this article from the Wall Street Journal “Medical Devices Face New Scrutiny From FDA”.  When I read the article it reminded me again of one of the great untold strengths of device regulation in Europe and yet another example where the European system is better than the […]