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FDA Announces First-Ever Patient Engagement Advisory Committee (PEAC)

Updated: 8/14/21 6:00 amPublished: 9/22/15

Twitter Summary: FDA’s Patient Engagement Advisory Committee (PEAC) aims to bring patient views to regulatory decision-making.

Recently, the FDA announced the creation of the first-ever Patient Engagement Advisory Committee (PEAC), designed to advise the agency on medical devices, device regulation, and patient use. Any disease could be covered. The committee’s goal is to increase patient views into the regulatory process. According to the recently nominated (and amazingly patient-focused) FDA Commissioner Dr. Robert Califf, this will help the FDA to:

  • identify the most important benefits and risks of a device or a technology;

  • assess the relative importance of different benefits and risks; and;

  • understand how patient preferences vary across a population.

PEAC will complement the FDA’s other initiatives to be more “patient-centered:” These include studies to evaluate patient preferences in medical devices, and the patient discussion diaTribe hosted last year focusing on the challenges that people with diabetes face every day, the tools we’d like to see, and what the FDA should consider as it  reviews new drugs and devices. For more information on PEAC’s membership and methodologies, click here.

The FDA is opening a public comment period for 60 days so people can submit and comment on potential topics for the advisory committee to discuss. We call upon diaTribe readers to raise their voice and share their opinions with the FDA by submitting comments at this link by November 15, 2015!

-CA

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