Under pressure to strengthen oversight on the superbug scope that killed two people and possibly infected hundreds of others at UCLA, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is creating an advisory panel to deal with the spread of potentially deadly bacteria linked to contaminated duodenoscopes.
The FDA Gastroenterology and Urology Devices Panel of the Medical Devices Advisory Committee meets May 14-15 to examine the threat posed to patients by superbugs like carbapenem-resistant Enterobacteriaceae (CRE), which may lurk in these scopes and infect patients after endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography (ERCP) procedures, according to the FDA.
“FDA is convening this committee to seek expert scientific and clinical opinion related to reprocessing of duodenoscopes and other endoscopes, as well as automated endoscope reprocessors, based on available scientific information,” the agency said in its notice.
