Today, on World Patient Safety Day, we reaffirm that patients are at the center of everything we do. 

Every time a patient takes a medicine, they trust that it has been carefully evaluated for safety. Behind that trust are years of scientific research and testing designed to identify potential risks, inform decisions, and help ensure medicines can be used as safely as possible. 

Safety begins in the laboratory 

Long before a new medicine reaches clinical trials, it undergoes extensive preclinical safety evaluation. Scientists use a range of approaches to better understand potential risks and generate the evidence needed to support safe and responsible development. Identifying risks early helps protect patients and informs decisions throughout the development process. 

Preclinical safety is more than an early step in medicine development. It provides the foundation for understanding potential risks, informing decisions, and supporting patient safety throughout the lifecycle of a medicine. From discovery through clinical development, every new insight contributes to a stronger evidence base for delivering safe and effective treatments to patients. 

Better science through collaboration 

As no single pharma company can solve the challenges of drug safety alone, the most meaningful advances come when industry, academia, and regulators work together. The European Commission and the European Federation of Pharmaceutical Industries and Associations (EFPIA) have pioneered public–private partnerships, sharing data, pooling expertise, and building tools that benefit everyone (e.g. IMI BIGPICTURE). 

New collaborative initiatives in preclinical safety are helping to advance more predictive, human-relevant approaches to safety assessment. Through projects such as IHI VICT3R, IHI NHPIG and other Innovative Health Initiative collaborations, researchers are developing new tools and methodologies that enhance scientific understanding, improve decision-making, and support patient safety throughout medicine development. 

A Promise to patients 

These projects are proof that collaboration works. By sharing knowledge and data across companies and borders, the pharmaceutical industry is building a safer, smarter system for bringing medicines to patients — one where diverse stakeholder expertise drive safety science forward, enabling earlier risk prediction, enhanced mitigation strategies, and ultimately better patient outcomes. Risks are identified proactively, predictions are more reliable, and the journey from laboratory to patient is as safe as it can possibly be. 

On World Patient Safety Day, we reaffirm that commitment. Because every patient deserves a medicine they can trust. It is both a responsibility and a privilege to contribute to the science that helps make that trust possible.