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Call key data
Developing EU methodological frameworks for clinical/performance evaluation and post-market clinical/performance follow-up of medical devices and in vitro diagnostic medical devices (IVDs)
Call number
HORIZON-HLTH-2024-IND-06-08
deadlines
Opening
26.10.2023
Deadline
11.04.2024 17:00
Funding rate
100 %
Call budget
€ 10,000,000.00
Estimated EU contribution per project
between € 8,000,000.00 and € 10,000,000.00
Link to the call
Link to the submission
Call content
short description
This topic aims at supporting activities that are enabling or contributing to one or several expected impacts of destination 6 “Maintaining an innovative, sustainable and globally competitive health industry”. Proposals should develop a framework for a life-cycle approach to evidence generation and evaluation of high-risk and innovative medical devices and IVDs.
Call objectives
The Medical Device Regulation (MDR) and in vitro diagnostic medical device Regulation (IVDR) provides a new regulatory framework where reinforcement of clinical/performance evaluation of medical devices and IVDs, and in particular high-risk medical devices, is a key element. The confirmation of conformity with the relevant general safety and performance requirements set out in the MDR and IVDR is based on clinical data and its assessment (clinical/performance evaluation), including the evaluation of the acceptability of the benefit-risk- ratio. Within this new framework, the clinical/performance evaluation should follow a defined and methodologically sound procedure based on the critical evaluation of the relevant scientific literature, a critical evaluation of the results of all available clinical investigations/performance studies, as well as consideration of currently available alternative treatment options for the device under evaluation. Clinical/performance evaluation has to be updated throughout the life cycle of the device. Hence, clinical/performance evaluation can draw on multiple types of data including data from initial clinical investigations/performance studies and data gathered by the manufacturer's post-market surveillance system. To operationalise this new requirement, research is needed to help regulators develop common methodological frameworks (including common specifications) on the clinical evidence needed to demonstrate safety, performance and clinical benefit all along the life cycle of devices taking into account the type of device and clinical intended purpose.
Such methodological frameworks and standardised approaches are particularly needed for high-risk medical devices, e.g. implantable and class III medical devices, class C and D IVDs, medical device software (including AI enabled devices and next generation sequencing) and other highly innovative devices.
In order to address the differences between evidence generation for medical devices and IVDs, the project should be tackled taking into account those differences.
Proposals should address all of the following activities:
- Development of a framework for a life-cycle approach to evidence generation and evaluation of high-risk and innovative medical devices and IVDs. This framework will provide a description of the types of evidence i) that meet safety and performance for market access, and ii) that have to be generated to fulfil post-market responsibilities. When appropriate it would be beneficial to consider to what extent the framework could be relevant to demonstrate relative effectiveness as needed for Health Technology Assessment. As regards highly innovative devices, particular attention may be paid to defining acceptable levels of uncertainty in terms of benefit-risk ratio at market entry as well as the type of post-market follow-up to be implemented to generate additional clinical evidence able to reduce this uncertainty. This could be particularly relevant for devices e.g. having no or little similarities with existing devices in terms of intended purpose, mode of action, materials or, for IVDs, with no existing reference materials.;
- For medical devices, a pilot to support development of common specifications which would set the stage for a common specification ecosystem for medical devices in the EU, including the development of standardised/common endpoints and associated health outcomes measures by technology type and where relevant by clinical intended purpose;
- Development of a general methodological approach to define, determine and update the state of the art for different device technologies. The robustness of the developed approach should be evaluated on 3 different medical device types and 3 different IVD types;
- Possible use of registries and other sources of real-world data for demonstration of regulatory compliance both pre- and post-market: minimum requirements for data quality, completeness and data reliability, statistical methods for data analysis, methods for limiting biases, methods for data linkage, determination of what acceptable evidence can be drawn from registries;
- Methodology for bridging studies for devices and IVDs with iterative development: assessment of data coming from previous versions of the device and where relevant integration of that data into the device’s clinical investigation/performance study and gap assessment between the different versions of the device;
- Identification of relevant quantitative and qualitative methodologies for integrating evidence derived from various data sources in the clinical evaluation/performance evaluation;
Proposals should build on relevant completed and ongoing initiatives in the field, in particular (but not restricted to) EU-funded initiatives. Proposals should involve researchers who are specialised in the clinical/performance evaluation of medical devices/IVDs and in the use of real-world data to evaluate medical products. Proposals should involve national competent authorities, notified bodies, IVD laboratories as well as Health Technology Assessment bodies and could involve patients’ representatives where relevant.
Applicants envisaging to include clinical studies should provide details of their clinical studies in the dedicated annex using the template provided in the submission system. See definition of clinical studies in the introduction to this work programme part.
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Expected results
Proposals under this topic should aim to deliver results that are directed, tailored towards and contributing to all of the following expected outcomes:
- Patients gain faster access to innovative, safe and well-performing medical devices;
- Regulators have access to sound scientific resources for clinical/performance evaluation guidance and development of common specifications as foreseen in Article 9 of the Medical Device Regulation (MDR);
- Notified bodies, by their direct participation to the production of documents, will have a harmonised way of assessing the clinical evidence in the pre-market and post-market phases; furthermore their network, will be enhanced;
- Health technology developers gain insight on the evidence needed to demonstrate that their devices meet MDR clinical requirements throughout their lifetime. They will also have more guidance on the use of real-world data for their clinical development strategies.
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Eligibility Criteria
Regions / countries for funding
Moldova (Moldova), Albania (Shqipëria), Armenia (Հայաստան), Azerbaijan (Azərbaycan), Belarus (Беларусь), Bosnia and Herzegovina (Bosna i Hercegovina / Босна и Херцеговина), Faeroes (Føroyar / Færøerne), Georgia (საქართველო), Iceland (Ísland), Israel (ישראל / إِسْرَائِيل), Kosovo (Kosova/Kosovë / Косово), Montenegro (Црна Гора), Morocco (المغرب), New Zealand (Aotearoa), North Macedonia (Северна Македонија), Norway (Norge), Serbia (Srbija/Сpбија), Tunisia (تونس /Tūnis), Türkiye, Ukraine (Україна), United Kingdom
eligible entities
Education and training institution, International organization, Non-Profit Organisation (NPO) / Non-Governmental Organisation (NGO), Other, Private institution, incl. private company (private for profit), Public Body (national, regional and local; incl. EGTCs), Research Institution incl. University, Small and medium-sized enterprise (SME)
Mandatory partnership
Yes
Project Partnership
To be eligible for funding, applicants must be established in one of the following countries:
- the Member States of the European Union, including their outermost regions
- the Overseas Countries and Territories (OCTs) linked to the Member States
- third countries associated to Horizon Europe - see list of particpating countries
Only legal entities forming a consortium are eligible to participate in actions provided that the consortium includes, as beneficiaries, three legal entities independent from each other and each established in a different country as follows:
- at least one independent legal entity established in a Member State; and
- at least two other independent legal entities, each established in different Member States or Associated Countries.
Any legal entity, regardless of its place of establishment, including legal entities from non-associated third countries or international organisations (including international European research organisations) is eligible to participate (whether it is eligible for funding or not), provided that the conditions laid down in the Horizon Europe Regulation have been met, along with any other conditions laid down in the specific call topic.
A ‘legal entity’ means any natural or legal person created and recognised as such under national law, EU law or international law, which has legal personality and which may, acting in its own name, exercise rights and be subject to obligations, or an entity without legal personality.
Specific cases:
- Affiliated entities — Affiliated entities (i.e. entities with a legal or capital link to a beneficiary which participate in the action with similar rights and obligations to the beneficiaries, but which do not sign the grant agreement and therefore do not become beneficiaries themselves) are allowed, if they are eligible for participation and funding.
- Associated partners — Associated partners (i.e. entities which participate in the action without signing the grant agreement, and without the right to charge costs or claim contributions) are allowed, subject to any conditions regarding associated partners set out in the specific call conditions.
- Entities without legal personality — Entities which do not have legal personality under their national law may exceptionally participate, provided that their representatives have the capacity to undertake legal obligations on their behalf, and offer guarantees to protect the EU’s financial interests equivalent to those offered by legal persons.
- EU bodies — Legal entities created under EU law including decentralised agencies may be part of the consortium, unless provided for otherwise in their basic act.
- Joint Research Centre (‘JRC’)— Where provided for in the specific call conditions, applicants may include in their proposals the possible contribution of the JRC but the JRC will not participate in the preparation and submission of the proposal. Applicants will indicate the contribution that the JRC could bring to the project based on the scope of the topic text. After the evaluation process, the JRC and the consortium selected for funding may come to an agreement on the specific terms of the participation of the JRC. If an agreement is found, the JRC may accede to the grant agreement as beneficiary requesting zero funding or participate as an associated partner, and would accede to the consortium as a member.
- Associations and interest groupings — Entities composed of members (e.g. European research infrastructure consortia (ERICs)) may participate as ‘sole beneficiaries’ or ‘beneficiaries without legal personality’. However, if the action is in practice implemented by the individual members, those members should also participate (either as beneficiaries or as affiliated entities, otherwise their costs will NOT be eligible.
other eligibility criteria
In recognition of the opening of the US National Institutes of Health’s programmes to European researchers, any legal entity established in the United States of America is eligible to receive Union funding.
Additional information
Topics
Relevance for EU Macro-Region
EUSAIR - EU Strategy for the Adriatic and Ionian Region, EUSALP - EU Strategy for the Alpine Space, EUSBSR - EU Strategy for the Baltic Sea Region, EUSDR - EU Strategy for the Danube Region
UN Sustainable Development Goals (UN-SDGs)
Additional Information
All proposals must be submitted electronically via the Funders & Tenders Portal electronic submission system (accessible via the topic page in the Search Funding & Tenders section). Paper submissions are NOT possible.
Proposals must be complete and contain all parts and mandatory annexes and supporting documents, e.g. plan for the exploitation and dissemination of the results including communication activities, etc.
The application form will have two parts:
- Part A (to be filled in directly online) contains administrative information about the applicant organisations (future coordinator and beneficiaries and affiliated entities), the summarised budget for the proposal and call-specific questions;
- Part B (to be downloaded from the Portal submission system, completed and then assembled and re-uploaded as a PDF in the system) contains the technical description of the project.
Annexes and supporting documents will be directly available in the submission system and must be uploaded as PDF files (or other formats allowed by the system).
The limit for a full application (Part B) is 45 pages.
The award criteria are described in General Annex D. The following exceptions apply: The thresholds for each criterion will be 4 (Excellence), 4 (Impact) and 3 (Implementation). The cumulative threshold will be 12.
Call documents
HE-Work Programme 2023-2024, Cluster 1, Destination 6HE-Work Programme 2023-2024, Cluster 1, Destination 6(452kB)
Contact
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