| Public Health Service Food and Drug Administration |
10903 New Hampshire Avenue Silver Spring, MD 20993 |
Department of Health and Human ServicesWARNING LETTER
MAR 14, 2011
VIA UPS EXPRESS
Mr. Torben Helbo
Chief Executive Officer
R82 A/S
Parallelvej 3
8751 Gedved, Denmark
Dear Mr. Helbo:
During an inspection of your firm located in Gedved, Denmarkon October 4, 2010, through October 7, 2010, an investigator from the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) determined that your firm manufactures pediatric mobile standing frames, wheel chairs, gate trainers, and toilet/bath accessories. Under section 201(h) of the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (the Act), 21 U.S.C. § 321(h), these products are devices because they are intended for use in the diagnosis of disease or other conditions or in the cure, mitigation, treatment, or prevention of disease, or are intended to affect the structure or function of the body.
This inspection revealed that these devices are adulterated within the meaning of section 501(h) of the Act (21 U.S.C. § 351(h)), in that the methods used in, or the facilities or controls used for, their manufacture, packing, storage, or installation are not in conformity with the current good manufacturing practice (CGMP) requirements of the Quality System (QS) regulation found at Title 21, Code of Federal Regulations (CFR), Part 820.
We received responses from Mr. Kent Rasmussen, Quality Manager, dated October 20, 2010, and December 21, 2010, concerning our investigator’s observations noted on the Form FDA 483, List of Inspectional Observations, that was issued to you. We address this response below, in relation to each of the noted violations. These violations include, but are not limited to, the following:
1. Failure to establish and maintain adequate procedures for rework, to include retesting and reevaluation of the nonconforming product after rework, to ensure that the product meets its current approved specification, as required by 21 CFR 820.90(b)(2). For example, no documented rework procedure had been established nor had any rework activities been documented in the Device History Record (DHR). This is shown in the DHR for the rabbit device, Serial Number (b)(4), where there was no record of any rework or rework procedures, even though the Kontrolplan Log demonstrates that the rabbit device had been reworked.
We have reviewed your responses and concluded that they are not adequate. Your firm did not provide rework procedures that require all reworked devices to be re-tested and re-evaluated, making certain that they meet their currently approved specification. Additionally, you have not provided any evidence of implementation of your corrective actions, including training on the revised procedures. In addition, you have not performed any systemic corrective actions to address this observation.
2. Failure to establish and maintain adequate procedures for implementing corrective and preventive action to include verifying and validating the corrective and preventive action (CAPA) to ensure that such action is effective and does not adversely affect the finished device, as required by 21 CFR 820.100(a)(4). For example, neither the Kunderreklamation Procedure No. 40-10-011 nor the Internal reclamation Procedure No. 40-10-008 include requirements for verifying and validating corrective and preventive actions prior to implementation. Nor do they verify that the corrective action is effective and does not adversely affect the product. This is shown in Customer Complaints (b)(4) and (b)(4), which demonstrate corrective actions that have been taken by the firm to fix failing units; there was no documentation that the corrective action was verified or validated.
We have reviewed your responses and concluded that they are not adequate. The procedures your firm has provided do not explain in sufficient detail the verification and validation of corrective and preventive actions. Additionally, evidence of implementation of the corrective action was not supplied with the response, nor were there any systemic corrective actions performed to ensure that all CAPAs are adequately verified and validated prior to implementation.
3. Failure to establish and maintain adequate procedures for receiving, reviewing, and evaluating complaints by a formally designated unit to include determining whether the complaint represents an event which is required to be reported to FDA, as required by 21 CFR 820.198(a)(3). For example, the firm’s Kunderreklamation Procedure No. 40-10-011 does not include requirements for ensuring that each complaint is evaluated for MDR reportability. This is shown in Customer Complaints (b)(4) and (b)(4) which had no documentation of the evaluation of these complaints as to whether they might meet MDR reportability requirements.
We have reviewed your responses and concluded that they are not adequate. Your firm provided an updated Kunderreklamation (customer complaint) Procedure No. 40-10-011 that includes requirements for ensuring that each complaint is evaluated for MDR reportability. However, evidence of implementation of the corrective action was not supplied with the response, nor were there any systemic actions performed to ensure that all complaints have been adequately evaluated.
4. Failure to review, evaluate, and investigate any complaint involving the possible failure of a device, labeling, or packaging to meet any of its specifications, unless such investigation has already been performed for a similar complaint and another investigation is not necessary, as required by 21 CFR 820.198(c). For example, the firm’s Kunderreklamation Procedure No. 40-10-011 does not ensure investigation results and corrective actions are recorded and retained in the complaint record. This is shown in Complaint (b)(4), which had no documentation of the investigation results included in the complaint file.
We have reviewed your responses and concluded that they are not adequate. Your firm provided an updated Kunderreklamation (customer complaint) Procedure No. 40-10-011 that includes requirements for ensuring that the investigation results and corrective actions are recorded in the complaint record. However, evidence of implementation of the corrective action was not supplied with the response, nor were there any systemic actions performed to ensure that all complaints have been adequately evaluated.
5. Failure to establish and maintain adequate procedures to ensure that formal documented reviews of the design’s results are planned and conducted at appropriate stages of the device’s design development, as required by 21 CFR 820.30(e). For example, the Design Review Procedure No. 30-10-218 does not ensure that participants at design reviews include representatives of all functions concerned with the design stage being reviewed and an individual who does not have responsibility for the design stage being reviewed.
We have reviewed your responses and concluded that they are not adequate. Your firm provided an updated Design Review Procedure No. 30-10-218 with the addition of section 4.3 ensuring that the participants at design reviews include representatives of all functions concerned with the design stage being reviewed. However, your firm did not provide any evidence of implementation of the new revised procedure, including training on this new procedure. In addition, the firm has not performed any systemic corrective actions to address the deficiencies in the design review process.
6. Failure to establish and maintain adequate procedures to control labeling activities, as required by 21 CFR 820.120. For example, the Labeling of product Procedure No. 70-10-002 does not ensure that the labeling is examined for accuracy, documented in the Device History Record (DHR), and controlled to prevent labeling mix-ups.
We have reviewed your responses and concluded that they are not adequate. Your firm provided an updated DHR procedure that specifies how labeling will be documented in the DHR. However, your firm did not address how the labeling process will be controlled to ensure the labels are accurate and how labeling mix-ups will be prevented. Additionally, your firm has not provided any evidence of implementation of the corrective action, including training on the revised procedure. Your firm has also not performed any systemic corrective actions to address this observation.
Our inspection also revealed that your Rabbit Mobile Standing Frame is misbranded under section 502(t)(2) of the Act, 21 USC 352 (t)(2), in that your firm failed or refused to furnish material or information respecting the devices that is required by section 519 of the Act, 21 USC 360i, and 21 CFR Part 803 – Medical Device Reporting (MDR) Regulation. Significant deviations include, but are not limited to:
Failure to have an adequate written MDR procedure establishing internal systems that provide for timely and effective identification, communication, and evaluation of events that may be subject to MDR requirements, a standardized review process or procedure for determining when an event meets the criteria for reporting, timely transmission of complete medical device reports, and documentation and recordkeeping requirements, as required by 21 CFR Part 803.17. For example:
1. Your Reporting to FDA procedure contains terminology that is incorrect and that will not allow you to correctly identify complaints as reportable events. For example, on page 1, Section 4, your procedure states, “When a reportable event has occurred with a product and there is a possibility for a reduction of the health condition in relation to the use of the product, an investigation of the event will start,” and “Incidences are not reportable if they are not likely to result in a death, serious injury or other significant adverse event experience.” These two statements are incorrect and may lead to an incorrect reporting decision. According to 21 CFR 803.50(a), you must report information from any source that reasonably suggests that a device that you market may have caused or contributed to a death or serious injury or that a device that you market has malfunctioned and that this device or a similar device that you market would be likely to cause or contribute to a death or serious injury if the malfunction were to recur.
2. The flowchart on page 3 of your procedure does not reference a process for how you will investigate events identified as MDRs to ensure that MDRs are submitted to FDA within the required reporting timeframes.
3. Your procedure does not contain definitions of terms to identify events as reportable under MDR such as MDR reportable event, serious injury, malfunction, and caused or contributed. You must use these terms in your decision making process to determine whether a complaint should be reported as a MDR).
4. Your procedure does not contain requirements for documentation and recordkeeping. This includes documentation of your evaluation of events to determine reportability, all medical device reports, and information that has been submitted to the FDA. Also, your MDR procedure does not contain requirements ensuring access to information that facilitates timely follow up and inspection by the FDA.
A follow up inspection will be required to assure that corrections and/or corrective actions are adequate.
U.S. federal agencies are advised of the issuance of all Warning Letters about devices so that they may take this information into account when considering the award of contracts. Additionally, premarket approval applications for Class III devices to which the Quality System regulation deviations are reasonably related will not be approved until the violations have been corrected. Requests for Certificates to Foreign Governments will not be granted until the violations related to the subject devices have been corrected.
Please notify this office in writing within fifteen (15) working days from the date you receive this letter of the specific steps you have taken to correct the noted violations, including an explanation of how you plan to prevent these violations, or similar violations, from occurring again. Include documentation of the corrective action you have taken. If your planned corrections will occur over time, please include a timetable for implementation of those corrections. If corrective action cannot be completed within 15 working days, state the reason for the delay and the time within which the corrections will be completed. Please provide a translation of documentation not in English to facilitate our review.
Your response should be sent to: Matthew C. Krueger, Branch Chief, U.S. Food and Drug Administration, 10903 New Hampshire Avenue, Building 66, Room 3676, Silver Spring, Maryland 20993. Refer to CMS case #160712 when replying. If you have any questions about the content of this letter please contact: Joshua Ross at 301-796-1423.
Finally, you should know that this letter is not intended to be an all-inclusive list of the violations at your facility. It is your responsibility to ensure compliance with applicable laws and regulations administered by FDA. The specific violations noted in this letter and in the Inspectional Observations, Form FDA 483 (FDA 483), issued at the closeout of the inspection may be symptomatic of serious problems in your firm’s manufacturing and quality assurance systems. You should investigate and determine the causes of the violations, and take prompt actions to correct the violations and to bring your products into compliance.
Sincerely yours,
/S/
Steven D. Silverman
Director
Office of Compliance
Center for Devices and
Radiological Health
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