His Excellence the CEO of the Saudi Food and Drug Authority (SFDA), Dr. Hisham bin Saad Aljadhey, headed the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia’s delegation participating in the annual summit of the International Coalition of Medicines Regulatory Authorities (ICMRA) held in Ireland.

During his participation, His Excellency highlighted the most important actions of the Authority in pharmacovigilance about communicating with the public about the safety of vaccines and preparations during the COVID-19 pandemic. His Excellency also touched on the issue of the availability of medicines and the challenges faced by countries in their lack of availability due to the shortage of supply chains and the impact of the pharmaceutical industry. His Excellency added that the means that are used to reduce the drug shortages were discussed bilaterally with some countries.

The session discussed international cooperation and ways to enhance monitoring, analysis and reporting, pharmacovigilance now or during any pandemic, and the lessons learned from the pandemic in communicating vaccine safety information.

It is noteworthy that the ICMRA includes more than 30 regulatory bodies as members, and the annual summit is held in the presence of the heads of those bodies. The SFDA joined this alliance in 2020 and is also part of the number of working groups.