The FDA has granted emergency use authorization for more than 430 COVID-19 tests. [Photo courtesy of Mayo Clinic]
The FDA is pushing COVID-19 test developers away from emergency use authorization (EUA) submissions in favor of more traditional pathways, the agency said today.The FDA said it intends to review “only a small subset” of new EUA submissions, encouraging test makers to seek regulatory approval through de novo classification or 510(k) clearance pre-market review pathways.
The policy update comes a week after the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General released a study that found the FDA’s EUA process authorized problematic tests and frustrated diagnostics developers.
The FDA’s “calculated decisions to increase availability of COVID-19 testing … often came at a potential cost to test quality,” the report said. R…