SAFE-BIOPHARMA ASSOCIATION CERTIFIES THREE ADOBE SOFTWARE PRODUCTS USED EXTENSIVELY IN PHARMACEUTICAL INDUSTRY

FT. LEE, NJ (APRIL 22, 2008) — SAFE-BioPharma Association today announced that Adobe Systems Incorporated has re-certified three software products used extensively in the pharmaceutical industry. The products -- Adobe® Acrobat® software, Adobe Reader® with Adobe LiveCycle ES Reader Extensions and Adobe LiveCycle ES Digital Signatures – were determined to be fully compliant with the SAFE-BioPharma™ digital signature industry standard. The products were upgraded since initially certified by SAFE-BioPharma a year ago and required re-testing to assure current compliance with the SAFE-BioPharma standard. 

SAFE-BioPharma Association is the non-profit association that created and manages the SAFE-BioPharma™ digital identity and signature standard for the pharmaceutical and healthcare industries.

“Because of the use of the newly upgraded Adobe products within the pharmaceutical industry, it is important that they are compliant with the SAFE-BioPharma standard, which is being more widely adopted by major pharmaceutical companies,” said Melonie Warfel, Director WW standards and Life Sciences, Adobe Systems Incorporated. “Adobe is committed to SAFE-BioPharma and to the Life Sciences industry.”

The SAFE-BioPharma digital identity and signature standard is designed and used to mitigate legal, regulatory and other business risk associated with business-to-business and business-to-regulator electronic transactions. It provides users with a secure, enforceable, and regulatory compliant way to verify identities of parties involved in electronic transactions and to apply their digital signatures to electronic documents. By using SAFE-BioPharma digital signatures, companies are able to dispense with paper originals and other cumbersome forms of back up.

“Procter & Gamble is implementing use of SAFE-BioPharma signatures, and we rely on SAFE-BioPharma compliant tools that allow us to facilitate smooth functioning and secure electronic business transactions,” said Kay Bross, Senior PKI Specialist, Information Security and Solutions at Procter & Gamble. “The fact that Adobe tools are compliant with SAFEBioPharma is something we very much value.”

“As a significant software leader in the life sciences, Adobe recognizes the critical need for its products to be certified as compliant with the SAFE-BioPharma digital standard. The SAFE-BioPharma standard is experiencing widespread recognition and a growing rate of adoption by pharmaceutical companies. Becoming re-certified is a smart business decision by Adobe,” said Mollie Shields-Uehling, President and Chief Executive Officer, SAFE-BioPharma Association.
Adobe was able to re-certify its three products using an inexpensive self-certification process that SAFE-BioPharma introduced several months ago. The entire re-certification process took less than two weeks.

Adobe Acrobat and Adobe Reader software enable biopharmaceutical and other professionals to reliably create, combine, and control Adobe PDF documents for easy, more secure distribution, collaboration, and data collection. Adobe LiveCycle solutions help accelerate the flow of information between people, documents, and enterprise processes while providing more control over sensitive information.

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About SAFE-BioPharma Association

SAFE-BioPharma Association is the non-profit association that created and manages the SAFE-BioPharma™ digital identity and signature standard for the pharmaceutical and healthcare industries. The SAFE-BioPharma industry standard is used to mitigate legal, regulatory and other business risk associated with business-to-business and business-to-regulator electronic transactions. It facilitates interoperability by providing a secure, enforceable, and regulatory-compliant way to verify identities of parties involved in electronic transactions. SAFE-BioPharma’s vision is to be a catalyst in transforming the biopharmaceutical and healthcare communities to a fully electronic business environment by 2012. The Association’s members include Amgen, AstraZeneca, Bristol-Myers Squibb, Genzyme, GlaxoSmithKline, Johnson & Johnson, Merck, Pfizer, Procter & Gamble, Roche and Sanofi-Aventis. For more information, visit www.safe-biopharma.org.

SAFE-BioPharma™ is a trademark of SAFE-BioPharma Association. Any use of this trademark requires approval from SAFE-BioPharma Association. Adobe, Acrobat, Reader and LiveCycle are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Adobe Systems Incorporated in the United States and/or other countries.