FDA Launches First Advisory Committee Comprised Solely of Patients

Oct 18, 2017

Last week, the FDA announced the formation of the Patient Engagement Advisory Committee (PEAC), the first advisory committee comprised solely of patients, care-partners and those who represent their needs, with a focus on the development cycle for medical devices. The group, which met for the first time last week to discuss patient input into medical device clinical trials, is part of a growing effort at the FDA to include the patient perspective in all aspects of a product cycle.

According to the FDA, these efforts are meant to support long-terms goals, including “the creation of consistent approaches to how the FDA develops clinical outcomes assessment tools such as patient-reported outcomes to inform our regulatory decisions” and “to maintain robust data management systems to incorporate and formalize knowledge sharing with the agency by patient stakeholders and patient communities.”

We, at MassBio, applaud this action. As we’ve argued for years, and is a topic of discussion at our annual Patient Advocacy Summit, patients must be involved from the very start of a new product’s lifecycle. Patients can provide critical insight – everything from what their priorities are to what kind of solutions they are seeking to their experiences with other products. Patients are, after all, the reason we do what we do – and their perspective is invaluable in ensuring new medical devices can meet their needs. And it’s not just the development of medical devices that necessitate their involvement, it’s the development of all patient treatments, cures and really anything that impacts their health.

If you’re committed to ensuring patients are at the heart of everything you do, join us for our 4th annual Patient Advocacy Summit on October 27th. Register today: https://www.massbio.org/events/massbio-patient-advocacy-summit-2442   

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