The approval process for medical devices does not involve the same rigorous review used for pharmaceuticals, and this needs to change in order to improve health outcomes, say researchers from the University of California, San Francisco. The UCSF team analyzes the problem and proposes steps toward a solution in a “Perspectives” article in the January 2008 issue of the “Journal of General Internal Medicine” devoted entirely to medical devices. UCSF researchers Mitchell D. Feldman, MD, MPhil, and Jeffrey A. Tice, MD, edited the issue.
