Early and accelerated access programs for medical devices in the European Union: mapping regulatory derogations and national schemes

Background:

Early access programs (EAPs) can provide patients with medical devices before full market access in urgent or high unmet-need situations. Unlike pharmaceuticals, the European Union (EU) has no harmonised early-access framework for medical devices, resulting in fragmented national practices. We use EAP as an umbrella term for two overlapping categories with distinct objectives: (1) early access in the strict sense, authorising exceptional pre-market use under defined conditions; and (2) accelerated access, aiming to shorten time to routine access by streamlining regulatory, reimbursement, or evidence-generation pathways. We map and compare these mechanisms across the 27 EU Member States (MS).

Methods:

We conducted a qualitative document-based analysis of peer-reviewed literature, grey literature (policy papers, regulatory guidance), and legal sources (EU legislation, national laws) published up to June 2025. We searched PubMed and Google Scholar, consulted Eur-Lex, and reviewed national competent authority websites. Search terms (English and local languages, then translated) combined “medical device” with “early access,” “accelerated access,” “compassionate use,” and “derogation,” plus “EU” or MS names. Documents were included if they described mechanisms enabling early use of medical devices. We synthesised and compared key program characteristics.

Results:

We identified early and accelerated access pathways at EU level and within MS. EU law provides derogations from CE-marking requirements, notably Article 59 of the EU Medical Device Regulation (EU MDR), allowing national authorisation of non-CE-marked devices in exceptional circumstances. The EU MDR also enables the use of custom-made devices and certain in-house manufactured devices by health institutions without full CE marking. Nationally, at least half of MS operate compassionate or expanded access schemes for devices, and some implement reimbursement or evidence-development mechanisms (e.g., France’s forfait innovation) to support early use while generating decision-relevant data.

Conclusions:

Early access to medical devices in Europe relies on EU regulatory derogations and heterogeneous national schemes. The landscape remains fragmented and unevenly documented. We recommend: (1) a more structured EU-level route for high-risk and combination products, (2) lifecycle-based national schemes integrating regulatory and payer access, (3) measures to reduce inequities and administrative barriers, particularly in Central and Eastern Europe, and (4) improved transparency and standardised data collection on implemented pathways.