UK MHRA publishes blueprint for the international recognition of medical devices

The MHRA statement intends the IRP will be available to manufacturers whose devices have already been approved by regulators in the following comparable regulator countries (CRCs): Australia, Canada, the European Union and the USA and meet certain eligibility criteria including English language labelling and packaging, Great Britain electronics compatibility requirements, and UK Medical Devices Regulation (MDR) post-market surveillance requirements.

The IRP will be distinct from the current UKCA mark and lead to a certificate of international recognition. Devices that are authorised under the IRP process can be placed on the Great Britain market for as long as the certificate from the CRC remains valid.

Different assessment requirements will apply depending on the type and class of the medical device, and whether the device classification is different in the CRC to that under the UK MDR. The MHRA proposes to exclude certain types of medical device from the IRP, including software as a medical device (SaMD) and artificial intelligence as a medical device (AIaMD) that do not satisfy the “MHRA's” intended purpose guidelines (published in early 2023) or have been approved via a route which relies on equivalence to a predicate.

Next Steps

The statement is the “MHRA's” current proposal for the international recognition of medical devices and there are further aspects of the IRP still to be confirmed. For example, the MHRA statement does not provide an indication of how long the IRP certificate application process will take. The final IRP framework is expected to be released in 2025 at the same time as the upcoming changes to the UK Medical Devices Regulations 2002 (UK MDR).

Please contact the authors or the Hogan Lovells attorneys with whom you regularly work for guidance on your organisation’s specific product needs.

Authored by Jane Summerfield and Alexandra Wood.