Draft Guidance for Industry and Food and Drug Administration Staff; Investigational Device Exemptions for Early Feasibility Medical Device Clinical Studies, Including Certain First in Human Studies; Availability

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is announcing the availability of a draft guidance entitled "Investigational Device Exemptions (IDE) for Early Feasibility Medical Device Clinical Studies, Including Certain First in Human (FIH) Studies." Through the approaches announced in this draft guidance, FDA intends to facilitate early feasibility studies of medical devices, using appropriate risk mitigation strategies, under the IDE requirements. Early feasibility studies allow for limited early clinical evaluations of devices to provide proof of principle and initial clinical safety data before the device design is finalized. This draft guidance addresses the information that should be provided to FDA in support of an early feasibility study IDE application and explains the requirements applicable to modifications to the device design or clinical protocol during the early feasibility study. This draft guidance is not final nor is it in effect at this time.