Our History
The History of GMDN:
The first international workshop on standardising medical device nomenclature.
A project council was established for a nomenclature system for medical devices for the purpose of regulatory data exchange.
The first electronic issue of the GMDN is published on CD-ROM.
The GMDN Agency becomes a non-profit company to manage the GMDN.
Translations of the GMDN into multiple languages starts.
Agreement with US FDA to use the GMDN in the worlds first UDI Database. The GMDN Agency also became a registered UK charity in 2013.
A new website was launched for an improved GMDN member experience.
Free access to all GMDN Terms was made available following a request from the World Health Organization (WHO) and European Commission.
The GMDN Agency launched a new “Category Versioning Service” to enable long-term data analysis.
WHO incorporated 3,000 GMDN Terms, Codes and Definitions into its medical device platforms, including MeDevIS, under a landmark collaboration with the GMDN Agency.
GMDN Agency signs agreements with SNOMED, GHX US and DHSC. The Agency also joined the Joint Initiative Council for Global Health Informatics Standardization (JIC).
The Global Medical Device Nomenclature (GMDN) is the world’s foremost standard for naming, defining, and categorising medical devices.
Established in 1991, the first international workshop on medical device nomenclatures was held to create the GMDN. Initially started by the European Standards Organisations (CEN) and later supported by the Global Harmonisation Task Force (now the International Medical Device Regulators Forum – IMDRF) to help accelerate the harmonisation of medical device regulation globally. The GMDN is recommended by the IMDRF and is now used by circa 107 national medical device regulators across the globe.
The system provides a global common language that enables regulators, manufacturers, healthcare providers, and other stakeholders to communicate clearly and consistently about medical devices.
GMDN uses internationally agreed generic descriptors to identify medical devices by intended use, technology/material, form/components, and significant attributes. The GMDN Database is continuously updated with new Terms to capture innovative technologies.