Astellas joins SAFE-BioPharma Association

Astellas has announced that it has joined the SAFE-BioPharma Association, an industry coalition dedicated to the ongoing development and implementation of the global SAFE-BioPharma digital identity and signature standard.

It becomes the first Japanese pharmaceutical company to join the not-for-profit coalition and will now be rolling out the new standard across its global operations.

Digital identity credentials compliant with the SAFE-BioPharma standard are used to manage cyber-identities and apply a higher form of electronic signature to documents such as regulatory submissions, thus enabling greater trust and efficiency.

Other members of the coalition include Abbott, AstraZeneca, Bristol-Myers Squibb, GlaxoSmithKline, Lilly, Merck Sharp and Dohme, Pfizer, Roche and Sanofi.

Mollie Shields-Uehling, president and chief executive officer of the SAFE-BioPharma Association, said: "Their use of the standard will help improve productivity, cost reduction and time to market by moving their processes more completely online."

This comes after Astellas earlier this year announced its membership of the Global Health Innovative Technology Fund scheme, which is dedicated to improving access to medical care in developing nations.