Commissioner Várhelyi to open high-level event on medical devices |
| Next Monday 16 March, EU Commissioner for Health and Animal Welfare Olivér Várhelyi will open a high-level conference in Brussels on “Medical Devices: Innovation and Patient Safety”. The event, hosted by the Commission under the auspices of the Cypriot Presidency of the Council, will bring together a wide range of industry, medical and patient representatives, as well as Member States, MEPs, assessment bodies and other stakeholders, to discuss the future of medical devices in Europe.
The Commission’s proposal to revise the EU rules for medical devices, presented last December, will be a key focus of the conference. The proposal aims to streamline administrative steps, remove unnecessary duplication and make our medical device supply chain more efficient. Further topics for discussion will include enhancing predictability in the assessment process, strengthening clinical evidence at EU level and supporting breakthrough technologies for better care. The medical devices sector is the second largest market in the world and a major employer in Europe, with 930 000 people employed by 38 000 companies 90% of which being SMEs. Ensuring availability of medical devices for patients is the Commission’s main priority, and no device can access the EU market without meeting our strict safety standards. “The medical devices sector is a key pillar of European health systems and of our innovation capacity. We have 38 000 companies, most of them SMEs that are keen to innovate and manufacture here in Europe, so that patients have timely access to the safest and best medical technologies. We need to enable them to do so by ensuring a regulatory framework that is efficient, predictable and fit for purpose. This is exactly what the revision of the medical devices regulations is intended to deliver.” – said Olivér Várhelyi. The conference will be web-streamed live, and the full agenda of the conference is online. More information on our medical devices rules can also be found online. |
Commissioner Várhelyi to open high-level event on medical devices
