By: Daniel R. Matlis, President
The Case for Quality: Why Does It Matter?
Last month, I had the privilege to moderate a discussion with Capt. Sean Boyd, deputy director for regulatory affairs in CDRH’s Office of Compliance, and Francisco (Cisco) Vicenty, acting program manager of Case for Quality in CDRH’s Office of Compliance.
During the webinar hosted by FDAnews, we discussed topics including:
- The Case for Quality – Why does it matter?
- Are we playing regulatory whack-a-mole?
- How is the role of FDA evolving to encourage a culture of quality for device makers?
- Have “Compliance First” regulatory approaches slowed innovation?
- Who benefits from a focus on quality?
- Are there appropriate substitutes for routine FDA inspections or pre-approval inspections?
- What are the quality outcomes metrics FDA will collect and monitor?
- How will FDA operate as we shift from documents to data/metrics as a result of using quality tools?
In addition, Capt. Boyd and Mr. Vicenty addressed the following audience questions:
Q1: How is the CfQ program different than Quality by Design?
A1: Quality by Design (QbD) is the systematic approach used in the pharmaceutical space for development that focuses on risk management and predefined objectives for product and process control. QbD is more analogous to Design Controls in Quality System Regulation. Case for Quality is an effort to work together with a community of stakeholders to incentivize performance and product quality. This collaboration will allow for faster and better data to drive purchasing decisions and FDA activity.
Fore more Q&A, read the article in its entirety in FDANews Device Daily Bulletin.