Personalized medicine has captured the attention of the public, including patients, healthcare providers, scientists, medical product manufacturers and many others. The US FDA will evaluate many of the products that will allow personalized medicine to be successfully implemented in the USA. This article addresses the FDA's approach to regulation of one component of personalized medicine, in vitro diagnostic devices. It also describes the FDA's efforts to integrate the various medical product regulatory authorities provided by Congress in the Federal Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act to develop effective mechanisms for oversight of medical products used to personalize treatment. Finally, it presents some of the current challenges in in vitro diagnostics oversight that may be of interest for personalized medicine.
Keywords: FDA; companion diagnostics; device regulation; in vitro diagnostics; laboratory tests; personalized medicine; predictive markers; prognostic markers; regulatory challenges.