MEDICAL DEVICES

IN VITRO DIAGNOSTIC MEDICAL DEVICES

Article 73: Information from the sponsor at the end of a performance study or in the event of a temporary halt or early termination

1. If the sponsor has temporarily halted a performance study or has terminated a performance study early, it shall inform within 15 days the Member States in which that performance study has been temporarily halted or terminated early, through the electronic system referred to in Article 69, of the temporary halt or early termination. In the event that the sponsor has temporarily halted or terminated early the performance study on safety grounds, it shall inform all Member States in which that performance study is being conducted thereof within 24 hours.

2. The end of a performance study shall be deemed to coincide with the last visit of the last subject unless another point in time for such end is set out in the performance study plan.

3. The sponsor shall notify each Member State in which that performance study was being conducted of the end of that performance study in that Member State. That notification shall be made within 15 days of the end of the performance study in relation to that Member State.

4. If a study is conducted in more than one Member State, the sponsor shall notify all Member States in which that performance study was conducted of the end of the performance study in all Member States. That notification shall be made within 15 days of that end of the performance study.

5. Irrespective of the outcome of the performance study, within one year of the end of the performance study or within three months of the early termination or temporary halt, the sponsor shall submit to the Member States in which a performance study was conducted a performance study report as referred to in Section 2.3.3. of Part A of Annex XIII.

The performance study report shall be accompanied by a summary presented in terms that are easily understandable to the intended user. Both the report and summary shall be submitted by the sponsor by means of the electronic system referred to in Article 69.

Where, for scientific reasons, it is not possible to submit the performance study report within one year of the end of the study, it shall be submitted as soon as it is available. In such case, the clinical performance study plan referred to in Section 2.3.2. of Part A of Annex XIII shall specify when the results of the performance study are going to be available, together with a justification.

6. The Commission shall issue guidelines regarding the content and structure of the summary of the performance study report.

In addition, the Commission may issue guidelines for the formatting and sharing of raw data, for cases where the sponsor decides to share raw data on a voluntary basis. Those guidelines may take as a basis and adapt, where possible, existing guidelines for sharing of raw data in the field of performance studies.

7. The summary and the performance study report referred to in paragraph 5 of this Article shall become publicly accessible through the electronic system referred to in Article 69, at the latest when the device is registered in accordance with Article 26 and before it is placed on the market. In cases of early termination or temporary halt, the summary and the report shall become publicly accessible immediately after submission.

If the device is not registered in accordance with Article 26 within one year of the summary and the performance study report having been entered into the electronic system pursuant to paragraph 5 of this Article, they shall become publicly accessible at that point in time.