FDA BREAKTHROUGH DEVICE CONSULTING

Trusted guidance for breakthrough 
devices

With experience supporting 100+ Breakthrough Device designations, we help companies maximize the advantages of the FDA's Breakthrough Devices Program from strategy through submission.

Streamline your path to market with our expert Breakthrough Device Designation consultants

The FDA Breakthrough Devices Program offers a powerful regulatory mechanism for medical devices and device-led combination products that provide more effective treatment or diagnosis of life-threatening or irreversibly debilitating human disease or conditions. However, program approval requires a highly rigorous, data-backed justification.

As your trusted FDA regulatory advisor, IQVIA MedTech helps assess eligibility, develop compelling Breakthrough Device Designation requests, and prepare engagement strategies for FDA interaction throughout development. With experience supporting 100+ Breakthrough Device designations, Our team evaluates early clinical evidence, articulates your technology's differentiators, and guides FDA interactions to support a strong designation strategy.

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The benefits of Breakthrough Designation

Securing FDA Breakthrough status provides you with several significant strategic and operational advantages:

  • Expedited Interactive Review Sprints: Accelerate FDA feedback on technical topics, potentially reducing review timelines by up to 60%.
  • Prioritized Communication: Enable earlier and more frequent engagement with the FDA, including faster feedback on regulatory strategy, study designs, and testing plans.
  • Enhanced Data Flexibility: Support innovative evidence-generation approaches, including real-world evidence, adaptive trial designs, smaller clinical studies, and post-market data collection.
  • Increased Investor Confidence: Strengthen opportunities for funding, strategic partnerships, and commercial growth.
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Targeted services for the FDA Breakthrough Devices Program

Combining regulatory and therapeutic expertise with longstanding experience engaging with the FDA, our team helps companies navigate submission requirements and key regulatory milestones.

  • Eligibility & Gap Analysis: Evaluate your clinical technology against strict FDA criteria to determine whether it qualifies for the Breakthrough Devices Program.
  • Pre-Submission and Strategy: Prepare and execute strategic pre-submission packages to align with the FDA on clinical endpoints prior to the formal designation request.
  • Designation Request Development: Compile robust scientific, clinical, and analytical evidence to build a bulletproof case for breakthrough device designation.
  • Sprint Discussions & Interactive Review Support: Facilitate rapid, collaborative interactions with FDA review teams to resolve critical protocol or data questions efficiently.
  • Clinical Data Architecture: Design clinical trial protocols optimized to gather the specific endpoints necessary to satisfy both expedited FDA approval and insurance reimbursement requirements.
  • Post-Market Compliance Planning: Transition seamlessly from accelerated approval pathways into robust post-market quality systems and surveillance.
MCRA is now part of IQVIA MedTech
Your Strategic Partner in Regulatory Success
IQVIA MedTech and MCRA bring together regulatory expertise with advanced analytics, technology, and global reach. Whether you're preparing for FDA submission, EU MDR certification, or global market entry, our integrated team provides the strategic guidance and operational support to move your product forward.
MCRA’s extensive regulatory knowledge of cancer IVDs [was] instrumental in the development of our breakthrough device submission for our bladder and upper tract urothelial cancer test, Bladder CARE™. With [their] assistance, our team was able to respond to the FDA’s request for additional information in an efficient manner.
Yap Ching Chew
Chief Operating Officer, Pangea Laboratory

Therapeutic and device specialization powering MedTech regulatory consulting

The IQVIA MedTech team features former regulatory agency officials, biostatisticians, clinicians, medical writers, and biomedical engineers with specialization in an array of MedTech therapeutic areas:


  • Cardiovascular
  • Neurology
  • General & Plastic Surgery
  • Orthopedics, Spine & Musculoskeletal
  • Metabolic, Endocrine & Gastrointestinal
  • In Vitro Diagnostics
  • Digital Health
  • And more
The journey to Breakthrough Device Designation is long and challenging. Pick the right partner.
Don't navigate complex FDA pathways alone. Work with our specialized consultants to de-risk your strategy and unlock priority FDA status.

Frequently asked questions about Breakthrough Device Designation

Devices granted entry into the Breakthrough Devices Program benefit from priority review, which places their files at the front of the FDA review queue. It also unlocks interactive review features — such as sprint discussions and regular, informal check-ins with FDA review staff — and provides a dedicated pathway for senior management engagement to resolve complex scientific disputes quickly.
While you do not need final clinical trial data to apply, you must provide a sound scientific rationale and preliminary clinical, non-clinical, or bench data demonstrating a reasonable expectation that the technology will provide more effective treatment or diagnosis than current U.S. standards of care. Our consultants excel at synthesizing early-stage data to build this justification.
No. A Breakthrough Device Designation does not alter the FDA's strict scientific and regulatory standards for safety and effectiveness. However, it significantly expedites and streamlines the premarket review process [510(k), De Novo, or PMA] by allowing manufacturers to address regulatory questions interactively throughout development rather than waiting until the final submission.

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