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Bethesda North Marriott Hotel and Conference Center

Jan 26, 2026 7:00 AM - Jan 28, 2026 3:00 PM

5701 Marinelli Road, North Bethesda, MD 20852

Global Pharmacovigilance and Risk Management Strategies Conference

Stay current with the latest safety regulations from global health authorities and regulatory experts!

Session 8: What’s New in Advancing Signal Detection? Smarter Tools for Safety Evaluation

Session Chair(s)

James  Buchanan, PharmD

James Buchanan, PharmD

President

Covilance LLC, United States

This session will provide an update on tools that aid in evaluating causality assessments of drug-induced liver injury (DILI). Some signal detection tools and methods employ various statistical methods, but this session will offer caution with some of these approaches instead highlighting the appropriate application of statistical methods in signal detection. Finally, while the Sentinel program has been a powerful tool for FDA to perform safety risk evaluations, it is not available to the pharmaceutical industry. However, a “subset” of Sentinel, known as IMEDS, is a program for safety evaluations that can be utilized by pharmaceutical companies. Experts in each of these areas will share the latest thinking on these topics.

Learning Objective : At the conclusion of this session, participants should be able to:
  • Describe how the RECAM method improves upon the RUCAM method for DILI assessments
  • Appreciate the appropriate use and limitations of statistics in signal detection and evaluation
  • Discuss how sponsors can use the IMEDS tools to evaluate safety signals using Sentinel-level data resources

Speaker(s)

Javier  Waksman, MD

Updates on DILI Causality Assessment

Javier Waksman, MD

PharmaSec LLC , United States

President

Ed  Whalen, PhD

Key Considerations to Avoid Misuse of Statistics in Safety Signal Detection and Evaluation

Ed Whalen, PhD

Pfizer Inc, United States

Senior Director, Biostatistics

Carla  Rodriguez-Watson, PhD, MPH

How the Innovation in Medical Evidence and Development Surveillance (IMEDS) Program Leverages Sentinel Capabilities for Safety Evaluations

Carla Rodriguez-Watson, PhD, MPH

Reagan-Udall Foundation for the FDA, United States

Director of Research

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