Designing for the Medical Device Industry: Holistic Solutions – A Multi-Faceted Approach
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The AliveCor heart monitor is the first FDA-cleared device to let patients monitor their heart rhythm through a smartphone, enabling cost-efficient, timely diagnosis of cardiac arrhythmias for those at risk. Designed by Karten Design.
Bringing a consumer product to market is a challenge in and of itself—taking an idea through concept development, business analysis, beta testing, product launch, and beyond. Add the FDA to the mix, and it’s a whole ‘nother story. This is the challenge faced by medical device and product firms, which not only have to make a fully functioning, well-designed product but also have to put it through several rounds of rigorous testing by the FDA and other regulatory bodies.
“They’re parameters. They don’t stop you from doing anything, but they do make you do it in a way that you, as a user, would probably think is a good thing,” says Aidan Petrie, Co-Founder and Chief Innovation Officer of Ximedica, an FDA-registered product development firm with an exclusive focus on medical products. On any given day, Ximedica is running 40 individual programs, overseeing the steps required to bring these products to market. “We don’t do anything that isn’t a FDA-regulated product,” says Petrie.
The timelines for these projects can run anywhere between two to six years. While time-to-market is not the primary driver, finding ways to close that gap can make a big difference in profitability. For companies like Ximedica and HS Design, closing that gap meant becoming International Organization for Standardization (ISO) 13485 certified. “There are so many regulatory and quality metrics that had to be put in place to satisfy those requirements that it made us a better and stronger company,” explains Tor Alden, Principal and CEO at HS Design (HSD). “It also put us to a level where we couldn’t just accept any client. We had to become more sophisticated as far as who our clients were and how we could say no or reach a point of compliancy.” By building those regulations into the design process, these companies are able to anticipate and plan for any potential timely obstacles from the get-go.
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