Christina Saad
Pharmacovigilance Manager Middle East, Bayer
The 24th annual meeting of the International Society of Pharmacovigilance (ISoP) took place from 24–27 October this year in Cairo, a city where ancient history and modern vibrancy coexist in dynamic harmony.
The event brought together a multidisciplinary group of global regulators, academics, healthcare professionals, industry representatives, and patient associations from across the world. Pharmacovigilance experts took part in four days of high-level discussions, hands-on workshops, and networking activities.
The event commenced with a pre-conference training day; a multidisciplinary programme of specialised courses designed to respect and reflect the diversity of pharmacovigilance professionals attending ISoP 2025 Cairo. Five distinct tracks – ranging from community and healthcare pharmacovigilance, advanced industry practice, and vaccine safety, to pharmacoepidemiology and benefit–risk assessment – offered a balanced blend of expert-led learning and practical, hands-on workshops. Together, they provided participants with essential skills, deeper insights, and actionable strategies to strengthen pharmacovigilance across a wide variety of professional settings.
The first day of the official conference began with the high-level panel ‘’Driving the Future of Pharmacovigilance: Global Strategies and Perspectives”, chaired by Hadir Rostom (ISoP Egypt President) and Brian Edwards (Chair of the Scientific Committee), a session that convened leading experts to outline emerging priorities for the field and explore future-forward strategies for medicines safety.
“The future of pharmacovigilance is about anticipating risks and turning data into foresight. As AI and real-world evidence grow, challenges will rise, but so will the opportunity to elevate patient safety for generations to come.”
Regional updates followed from North America, the EU, the Middle East, Latin America, and Asia. Parallel sessions highlighted signal detection, ecopharmacovigilance, pharmacovigilance system strengthening, medical device safety, herbal and traditional medicines, vaccine safety, and pharmacogenomics.
The day concluded on a festive note as participants came together aboard the Blue Nile Boat to celebrate the 25th Anniversary of ISoP, an evening filled with connection, reflection, and joy.
The second day of the conference featured diverse parallel sessions on key pharmacovigilance topics, including communication, biotechnology and biosimilars, haemovigilance, falsified medicines, risk management, women’s medicines, pharmacovigilance education, compliance, audits, active monitoring, and medication errors.
These sessions were followed by the ISoP General Assembly 2025, during which the new ISoP Advisory Board was officially announced.
The “What is New from Africa?” session highlighted Africa’s pharmacovigilance progress, the African Medicines Agency, and the strategy of its first director, Delese Mimi Darko, presented by Victoria Prudence Nambasa, Senior Program Officer at the African Union Development Agency-NEPAD.
The day concluded with the Gala Dinner held at the charming Pyramids of Giza, offering attendees a memorable and magical Cairo evening. According to Marco Tuccori, Associate Professor of Pharmacology at the University of Verona and one of the attendees at the conference, the conference dinner made him feel “genuinely privileged”. “As always, it was wonderful to reconnect with colleagues from around the world,” he said.
“From the start, our strategy was to combine a rich scientific program with a full Egyptian cultural experience, featuring the pyramids dinner and ISoP’s 25th anniversary celebration on the Nile”
The final day of the conference featured parallel sessions on AI in pharmacovigilance, the global MedSafetyWeek campaign, patient engagement, and real-world evidence. It was followed by the ISoP-WHO joint session, chaired by Shanthi Pal, Team Lead for Pharmacovigilance at the World Health Organization, on global medication safety.
The conference concluded with the Closing Ceremony, where the three poster prize winners and the Sten Olsson Award winner, selected from over 400 abstracts, were announced.
The 24th ISoP conference in Cairo successfully blended scientific discourse with vibrant cultural experiences, fostering meaningful connections among global pharmacovigilance professionals. The event not only celebrated significant milestones but also set an inspiring tone for the future of medication safety worldwide.
