AdvaMed Announces Multi-Year Partnership with ANSI and USAID to Strengthen Global COVID-19 Response
WASHINGTON, D.C. – As part of the medtech industry’s ongoing mobilization to combat COVID-19, the Advanced Medical Technology Association (AdvaMed) today announced that through the Standards Alliance mechanism, a multi-year partnership has been approved under which the association will provide private sector resources and expertise to help increase adoption of medical technology-specific international regulatory standards and good regulatory practices by governments across Latin America, Africa, and Southeast Asia.
“The more similar laws and regulations are from country to country around the world, the better off patients will be. Expanding adoption of strong international standards and effective, common regulatory practice makes it easier and more efficient to get lifesaving medical technologies to the patients and providers who need them wherever they are in the world,” said Scott Whitaker, AdvaMed president and CEO. “This is even more important in the middle of a global fight against COVID-19 that requires cooperation across borders.”
“The initiative will facilitate public-private sector cooperation, trade and U.S. medtech exports, including access to COVID-19 tests, personal protective equipment and other essential supplies to fight the pandemic,” added Ralph Ives, AdvaMed executive vice president, global strategy and analysis. “This will help get the latest advances into the hands of health care providers on the front lines of the global health emergency.”
Under the partnership, AdvaMed will provide direct contributions for training, as well as staff time and technical expertise, aimed at increasing regulatory “convergence” across Latin America, Africa, and Southeast Asia through 2023. The project is part of a Global Development Alliance with the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) and American National Standards Institute (ANSI) under which USAID will match direct and in-kind contributions by AdvaMed worth up to $3 million. To date, USAID and the State Department have committed over $1.6 billion to help fight the coronavirus pandemic.
The project is conducted under the umbrella of the Standards Alliance, a public-private partnership between USAID and ANSI. The AdvaMed project addresses COVID-19 response and recovery, and advances good regulatory practices for medtech, as part of the groups’ broader efforts to increase adoption of international standards for regulatory purposes. It builds on AdvaMed’s existing partnership with ANSI to promote good regulatory practices for medtech and lower trade barriers in Latin America, and the launch earlier this year of the Inter-American Coalition for Regulatory Convergence for the Medical Technology Sector.
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AdvaMed member companies produce the medical devices, diagnostic products and health information systems that are transforming health care through earlier disease detection, less invasive procedures and more effective treatments. AdvaMed members range from the largest to the smallest medical technology innovators and companies. For more information, visit www.advamed.org.