Medical Devices; Laboratory Developed Tests

The Food and Drug Administration is issuing a final rule to amend its regulations to make explicit that in vitro diagnostic products (IVDs) are devices under the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (FD&C Act) including when the manufacturer of the IVD is a laboratory. In conjunction with this amendment, the Food and Drug Administration is phasing out its general enforcement discretion approach for laboratory developed tests (LDTs) so that IVDs manufactured by a laboratory will generally fall under the same enforcement approach as other IVDs. This phaseout policy includes enforcement discretion policies for specific categories of IVDs manufactured by a laboratory, including currently marketed IVDs offered as LDTs and LDTs for unmet needs. This phaseout policy is intended to better protect the public health by helping to assure the safety and effectiveness of IVDs offered as LDTs, while also accounting for other important public health considerations such as patient access and reliance.