Can RegMetrics help Academics?

by Francesca Davis on 15 Jul 2024

Reading time: 2 minutes

A partnership with RegMetrics has meant that University College London (UCL) now has the toolkit to make the regulatory strategy a simpler process. Helen Cooksley, a Translational Research Manager at UCL’s Translational Research Office (TRO) talked to us about how the RegMetrics software has benefitted the academics.

Anyone can use RegMetrics! This is how Helen ended our conversation, giving only the highest of praise for RegMetrics and its user friendliness and simplicity, meaning regardless of your understanding of the regulatory strategy or your relationship with technology, the software will be able to accommodate your needs and make your journey easier and hassle free.

The partnership with UCL allows everyone access to the software, whether they are senior academics or research support teams. Talking with Helen made it apparent that a range of people have used RegMetrics and found it useful and helpful.

How the RegMetrics tool is helping the university

The UCL TRO has established a Devices & Diagnostics Therapeutic Innovation Network bringing together professionals from across academia and industry to drive therapeutic innovation in the use and development of medical devices and diagnostics for effective translation into the clinic. This network is establishing a workflow for the design, development and evaluation of medical devices (QMS, Ethics Applications, Regulatory Guidance) the RegMetrics platform is an integral part of this pathway.

It is proving to be beneficial mostly because “academic researchers are aware that regulations apply to what they do but are never really sure how and when to start the process.” The regulatory strategy can be confusing or daunting to navigate, and it is important to reassure anyone carrying out the process that this doesn’t have to be the case, so they don’t feel overwhelmed or disheartened by it.

Why the RegMetrics tool is useful at UCL

The regulatory strategy can sometimes be viewed as “a very complex minefield to navigate” according to Helen, which means that by simplifying it, it will be a massive help to those who are new to regulations.

RegMetrics “puts the information in a very logical, structured way” and this way means “that anyone at any level can access and use and get the answer that they need out of it.” The simplicity of the software means it is that much more user friendly, which is why Helen always encourages academics to use RegMetrics from the moment they start thinking about developing a medical device as the software is “fundamental from the start”. This will stop researchers from getting too far into device development without being fully aware of the regulatory aspects.

The UCL and RegMetrics partnership

When asked why a partnership with RegMetrics was so appealing, Helen responded with, “We thought RegMetrics was brilliant because it really starts educating and informing people.” After a year of UCL using our software’s subscription, it has been a valuable tool for UCL, allowing everyone to “all work together with the same information" and “all work at the same pace.”

We hope that UCL’s decision to partner with RegMetrics will be one of many in the future, as our software could prove useful to lots of other universities who are working on medical device development. Helen agreed with this sentiment saying, “It’s definitely a very useful tool for universities” particularly as most “universities don’t necessarily have the expertise in house” for them to be able to effectively carry out the regulatory strategy.

Conclusion

This partnership is a real-life example of how our software is able to help the wider community. It’s exciting to see it in use, knowing that it is making a difference to academics. As well as the fact that the tool makes the regulatory strategy much easier, Helen explained that a key aspect of the software’s success is that “if something is cumbersome and takes a long time, academics will just lose interest, they won’t engage with it.” She went on to say that RegMetrics takes this issue out of the process, which keeps academics interested in carrying out their projects and providing a helpful service to those developing a medical device.

Because of how useful RegMetrics has been for the academics at UCL, Helen mentioned that “we strongly encourage the researchers, once they have done that initial classification, to really go in and explore the other resources that are there”. We hope that academics will do exactly this and we look forward to finding out how researchers at UCL will use RegMetrics in their future endeavours.