Adobe has added SAFE-BioPharma to its Adobe Approved Trust List (AATL). Effective immediately, anyone with a SAFE-BioPharma identity credential will be able to sign a PDF document in Adobe Acrobat, or Reader that will be automatically trusted globally by any other user of Adobe Acrobat, or Reader.

SAFE-BioPharma is a global standard used throughout the life science and healthcare sectors to manage digital identities and to apply digital signatures to electronic documents. The standard requires, among other things, individuals to whom identity credentials are issued, to undergo a process creating a close bond between the credential and it's user's proven identity. This process and other requirements provide high assurance of the individual's identity, allowing the credential to be used for a multitude of purposes including applying legally binding, non-repudiable digital signatures to electronic documents.

AATL comprises almost 50 member organizations from around the world, including the U.S. government, Japanese government and members of the E.U. Trust List.

"Inclusion on the AATL means that any person worldwide with a SAFE-BioPharma identity credential can sign a PDF document with full knowledge that the recipients will receive cost savings, while benefiting from the integrity-checking and trusted green checkmark/blue ribbon experience when opening the document," said Steve Gottwals, senior engineering manager, Information Security, Adobe.

Both Acrobat and Reader are programmed to download a list of trusted digital certificates and will trust any digital signature created with a credential that traces a relationship to the high-assurance trustworthy certificates on the list.

Fully digital signatures as defined by the SAFE-BioPharma standard are required by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency for electronic prescriptions for controlled substances. They also are required by the EMA for certain submissions and are used by EMA for outgoing correspondence requiring legally binding signatures.

"Forces within life science and healthcare demand technologies that deliver greater trust in cyber-transactions. The SAFE-BioPharma standard was created toward that end. Being a member of the Adobe Approved Trust List advances its utility for signing PDFs," said Mollie Shields-Uehling, president and CEO, SAFE-BioPharma Association, the nonprofit industry collaborative that manages the standard.

Digital signatures based on the SAFE-BioPharma standard are used to sign electronic laboratory notebooks, regulatory submissions, clinical trial documents, and routine day-to-day business documents. Digital identity credentials based on the SAFE-BioPharma standard are used to manage access across firewalls and to portals and to access protected information, such as electronic health records.