safety reporting

Finalized Guidance for Industry: Investigator Responsibilities for Safety Reporting

Finalized Guidance for Industry: Investigator Responsibilities for Safety Reporting

01/08/2026

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On December 15th, 2025, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) released the finalized guidance for industry “Investigator Responsibilities — Safety Reporting for Investigational Drugs and Devices”. Unlike most updates, this finalized guidance is replacing the FDA’s recommendations from two separate final guidance documents: “Safety Reporting Requirements for INDs and BA/BE Studies” from 2012 and “Adverse Event Reporting to IRBs—Improving Human Subject Protection” from 2009, both of which are now withdrawn.

FDA IND Safety Reporting: New Draft Guidance

6/29/2021

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The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) released a draft guidance “Sponsor Responsibilities - Safety Reporting Requirements and Safety Assessment for IND and Bioavailability/Bioequivalence Studies.” The draft guidance is a combination of the final guidance from 2012, “Safety Reporting Requirements for INDs and BA/BE Studies” and an updated version of the draft guidance from 2015, “Safety Assessment for IND Safety Reporting,” which has been withdrawn. The intent of the draft guidance is to clarify and support sponsors in understanding the requirements for expedited safety reporting.

Overinterpretation of Safety Reporting Regulations Leads to Burdens at Sites, FDA

4/27/2021

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There has been an increase in the complexity of clinical trials over the last decade. Add to that the support for including more diverse populations who may have additional underlying conditions (FDA Guidance document “Enhancing the Diversity of Clinical Trial Populations”), and this leads to an increase in the number of safety events reported.