Biological Evaluation of Medical Devices

Biological Evaluation of Medical Devices

Biological response to a medical device is wide and complex. The choice of safer constituent material may result in less functional device. Hence Biological Evaluation plays important role where the constituent material of device interacts with tissue.

The primary aim of EN ISO 10993-1: “Biological evaluation of medical devices- Part 1: Evaluation and testing within a risk management process”, is to protect the humans from potential biological risks arising from the use of medical devices. However, Medical Device Directive (MDD) and the Medical Device Regulation also provides Essential requirements and General Safety and Performance requirements of Medical device. 

It is intended to describe the biological evaluation of medical devices within a risk management process in accordance with ISO 14971:2007, as part of the overall evaluation and development of each medical device. This risk management process involves identification of biological hazards, estimation of the associated biological risks, and determination of their acceptability. This approach combines the review and evaluation of existing data from all sources with, where necessary, the selection and application of additional tests, thus enabling a full evaluation to be made of the biological responses to each medical device, relevant to its safety in use.

The primary role of this document is to serve as a framework in which to plan a biological evaluation. A secondary role is to utilize scientific advances in our understanding of basic mechanisms, to minimize the number and exposure of test animals by giving preference to in vitro models and to chemical, physical, morphological, and topographical characterization testing, in situations where these methods yield equally relevant information to that obtained from in vivo models.

Biological Evaluation Plan

Biological Evaluation Plan will be drawn which can be used to prove the safety of the device by demonstrating compliance to corresponding standards and avoiding unnecessary testing of the device

Interpretation of biological evaluation data and overall biological risk assessment 

Expert assessors who have the necessary knowledge and experience shall determine and document: 

  1. The strategy and planned content for the biological evaluation of the medical device
  2. The criteria for determining the acceptability of the material for the intended purpose, in line with the risk management plan 
  3. The adequacy of the material characterization
  4. The rationale for selection and/or waiving of tests
  5. The interpretation of existing data and results of testing
  6. The need for any additional data to complete the biological evaluation
  7. Overall biological safety conclusions for the medical device

Biological Evaluation Report

 

The report is used to demonstrate that a medical device will not cause any potential risks to patients and intended users during the course of its use

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