Developing Quality Medical Products for U.S. Forces
Historically, service members have been deployed around the world for a variety of reasons – war, humanitarian missions, international relations and to support all operational orders. As a result of this world travel, service members are exposed to disease and put in situations that can cause physical and mental harm. Although military medicine has come a long way over the centuries, there will always be room for growth.
- New diseases or new strains of disease will need vaccines and treatments.
- Combat casualty care methods and products will need to be modified to fit the situation.
- Injuries will need to be treated and mental health restored, on-and-off the battlefield.
The mission of the U.S. Army Medical Materiel Development Activity is to develop and manage medical materiel to protect and sustain U.S. Forces. As the Department of Defense's advanced development activity for medical research and development and acquisition, USAMMDA works with the U.S. Army Medical Research and Materiel Command's laboratories, government and commercial partners and the academia to bring medical materiel from concept to U.S. Forces.
What is materiel? No, it is not a typo – it really is spelled with an "iel". Materiel refers to the equipment, devices and supplies used within the military. Medical materiel is not limited to just the equipment found in hospitals and equipment carried on medics. Every Soldier deployed is outfitted with the Improved First Aid Kit which allows all Soldiers the ability to perform on themselves or assist with buddy-aid. Military recruits in all five services receive two tablets called the adenovirus vaccine while they are in-processing into basic training to fight off the upper respiratory-type infections that effect recruit health and cause setbacks in training. Standard all-terrain vehicles can be converted to casualty evacuation vehicles in a matter of minutes saving lives by removing injured Service members from the battlefield quickly and efficiently.
"It takes a tremendous amount of work to bring a medical product from concept to a fielded solution that is being used by our service members," said Col. Russell Coleman, commander of USAMMDA. "Scientists, engineers and a supporting network of regulatory, quality and management personnel work closely with our many partners to overcome a variety of challenges in order to provide medical solutions to the service member and to the world."
Military medical acquisition is more than the investment in medical technology. The USAMMDA team of project and product managers, regulatory scientist and support personnel work together with partners to ensure the advanced development products managed by USAMMDA are designed, engineered, tested, cleared by the FDA, procured and fielded.
"The development of most medical products is much bigger than just USAMMDA. Products often come to us after years of basic research in one of the USAMRMC laboratories, with these laboratories frequently continuing to champion these efforts through their continued involvement in our development efforts," said Coleman. "If it weren't for the research and support of the USAMRMC labs, we couldn't do our job."
When products reach certain milestones, they are transitioned from the tech-base laboratories to USAMMDA where product managers and regulatory scientists oversee the clinical studies and field testing. This can be a lengthy process as the U.S. FDA requirements need to be met before products can move on to the next stages in testing and ultimately to the FDA for approval.
USAMMDA supports the medical research and development of products through five Product Management Offices: Pharmaceutical Systems, Medical Support Systems, the Armed Forces Institute of Regenerative Medicine, Hyperbaric Oxygen Treatment, and Neurotrauma and Psychological Health. In addition to the five PMOs, two regulatory divisions, the Division of Regulated Activities and Compliance and the Clinical Services Support Division, monitor the progress of the product development, supporting not only USAMMDA but all of USAMRMC. The USAMMDA Force Health Protection Division is an Office of The Surgeon General executive agency and supports the entire DoD by developing investigational new drug protocols and coordinating emergency use authorizations to protect U.S. Forces from manmade or endemic disease threats. These PMOs and divisions are supported by the Administrative Services Division and the Office of the Commander, ensuring that USAMMDA is funded, trained and maintained in order to most effectively accomplish our mission.