MEDICAL DEVICES

IN VITRO DIAGNOSTIC MEDICAL DEVICES

Article 77: Information from the sponsor at the end of a clinical investigation or in the event of a temporary halt or early termination

1. If the sponsor has temporarily halted a clinical investigation or has terminated a clinical investigation early, it shall inform within 15 days the Member State in which that clinical investigation has been temporarily halted or terminated early, through the electronic system referred to in Article 73, of the temporary halt or early termination, providing a justification. In the event that the sponsor has temporarily halted or terminated early the clinical investigation on safety grounds, it shall inform all Member States in which that clinical investigation is being conducted thereof within 24 hours.

2. The end of a clinical investigation 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 clinical investigation plan.

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

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

5. Irrespective of the outcome of the clinical investigation, within one year of the end of the clinical investigation or within three months of the early termination or temporary halt, the sponsor shall submit to the Member States in which a clinical investigation was conducted a clinical investigation report as referred to in Section 2.8 of Chapter I and Section 7 of Chapter III of Annex XV.

The clinical investigation 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 73.

Where, for scientific reasons, it is not possible to submit the clinical investigation report within one year of the end of the investigation, it shall be submitted as soon as it is available. In such case, the clinical investigation plan referred to in Section 3 of Chapter II of Annex XV shall specify when the results of the clinical investigation 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 clinical investigation 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 clinical investigations.

7. The summary and the clinical investigation report referred to in paragraph 5 of this Article shall become publicly accessible through the electronic system referred to in Article 73, at the latest when the device is registered in accordance with Article 29 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 29 within one year of the summary and the 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.