Events

Recall of Device Recall Merlin Patient Care System

According to U.S. Food and Drug Administration, this recall involved a device in United States that was produced by St Jude Medical Inc..

What is this?

A correction or removal action taken by a manufacturer to address a problem with a medical device. Recalls occur when a medical device is defective, when it could be a risk to health, or when it is both defective and a risk to health.

Learn more about the data here
  • Type of Event
    Recall
  • Event ID
    78093
  • Event Risk Class
    Class 2
  • Event Number
    Z-0032-2018
  • Event Initiated Date
    2017-08-28
  • Event Status
    Open, Classified
  • Event Country
    United States
  • Event Source
    USFDA
  • Event Source URL
    https://www.accessdata.fda.gov/scripts/cdrh/cfdocs/cfres/res.cfm?id=158760
  • Notes / Alerts
    U.S. data is current through June 2018. All of the data comes from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, except for the category Manufacturer Parent Company.
    The Parent Company was added by ICIJ.
    The parent company information is based on 2017 public records.
  • Extra notes in the data
    Defibrillator, automatic implantable cardioverter, with cardiac resynchronization (CRT-D) - Product Code NIK
  • Reason
    New pacemaker firmware was developed to further mitigate the risk of unauthorized access to our pacemakers that utilize radio frequency (rf) communications.
  • Action
    Abbott sent an Important Cybersecurity Advisory dated August 28, 2017, to all affected customers to notify customers of the availability of the programmer software update and associated pacemaker firmware update. The notification material is in the form of a Physician Letter and Hospital Letter and will be delivered to physicians and hospitals with inventory in the US by overnight service. Customers with questions were instructed to contact their Abbott representative or the customers technical support hotline at 1-800-722-3774.

Device

Device Recall Merlin Patient Care System
  • Model / Serial
    Software version 23.1.1
  • Product Classification
    Cardiovascular Devices
  • Device Class
    3
  • Implanted device?
    Yes
  • Distribution
    Worldwide Distribution
  • Product Description
    Merlin PCS 3650 Programmer with Model 3330 Software Version 23.1.1 || The Merlin Patient Care System (PCS) Model 3650 Programmer is a portable, dedicated programming system designed to interrogate program display data and test St. Jude Medical implantable devices.
  • Manufacturer
    St Jude Medical Inc.

Manufacturer

St Jude Medical Inc.
  • Manufacturer Address
    St Jude Medical Inc., 15900 Valley View Ct, Sylmar CA 91342-3577
  • Manufacturer Parent Company (2017)
    Abbott Laboratories
  • Manufacturer comment
    “We are in constant communication with regulatory agencies and competent authorities worldwide which allows us to implement global recalls or in-country communication quickly and effectively,” Abbott, which now owns St. Jude Medical told ICIJ in a statement. In addition to sending global notices to physicians worldwide, we also make sure that product advisories are available online and classification of product recalls and product advisories are determined by global regulatory bodies which can impact the timing in any given country. MD companies follow varying regulations in different countries. In come countries software is not regulated so a recall in one country related to software would not be classified as a recall or field action in another. In addition, review cycles within the regulatory process can be different in each country which can impact communication and recall timing.
  • Source
    USFDA