Cross-border market intelligence: FDA authorizations against Health Canada licences

Company identity before device identity

A device pair is only asserted under a confirmed company link, so matching starts with the applicant. Short forms are expanded, known misspellings corrected, legal endings and geography words set aside, and a curated alias list records relationships such as GE Medical Systems to GE HealthCare — each with a stated reason. Nothing is merged silently.

• Exact canonical identity first, then fuzzy name, identity and word-containment matching
• Every pair stores its score and a written explanation, including why it was held below a firmer outcome
• Company matches are reviewable, and a reviewer's decision is written back even if the pair is rebuilt

Device matching with evidence, not guesswork

Devices are compared three ways: close device names, the same distinctive product wording in any order, and a Canadian model or catalogue number appearing in the US device text. Product-code and class signals are supporting evidence only, capped so they can never create a match on their own.

• Matched requires an identical device name or a real identifier under a confirmed company link
• Shared wording alone is only ever offered as a Possible match
• Each side of a pair links to the regulator record it came from, for one-click verification

The saved search teams actually run

US devices without an apparent Canadian match is a one-click saved search, filterable by pathway, product code, decision date, Canadian status and confidence, sortable, and shareable as a URL. It reports what the published data does not show — not that a device is unlicensed.