National Notary Association Becomes Member of SAFE-BioPharma Association

FT. LEE, N.J.--(Business Wire)--
The National Notary Association (NNA), the nation's largest
professional notary association, has become a member of SAFE-BioPharma
Association, the non-profit association that created and manages the
global SAFE-BioPharma(TM) digital identity and signature standard for
the pharmaceutical and healthcare industries.

The NNA, which became the first SAFE-BioPharma member not directly
associated with pharmaceutical or healthcare, will train, support and
dispatch its member notaries to provide third party identity proofing
services to pharmaceutical and healthcare companies using the
SAFE-BioPharma standard.

"Creating a national infrastructure of specially-trained notaries
public who can support the rapidly expanding use of SAFE-BioPharma
digital identities is extremely important to making pharmaceutical and
healthcare operate more efficiently," said Mollie Shields-Uehling,
president and CEO, SAFE-BioPharma Association. The SAFE-BioPharma
standard is used throughout industry to verify and manage identities
and to digitally sign electronic documents.

Every individual who qualifies to use the SAFE-BioPharma standard
must first have his or her identity properly authenticated. Among the
available options for authenticating identity is the use of a notary
public who, serving as an independent, trusted party, has a
face-to-face meeting with the person seeking to use the SAFE-BioPharma
standard. In this meeting, the notary reviews authenticating
identification documents (such as drivers' license and passport) that
conform to specific, prescribed requirements. The in-person meeting
and document review meets the federal government's requirement for
Level 3 identity assurance and represents strong authentication and a
high level of trust. In the United States, this assurance level is
required to remotely apply a digital signature and to prevent legal
repudiation.

"With the NNA's national network of trusted and proven notaries as
identity proofers, SAFE-BioPharma members have access to an in-person
identity proofing option that is unmatched in reliability and
convenience. We credit SAFE-BioPharma with having the vision to bring
to the pharmaceutical and healthcare industries the security benefits
of this trusted notary network," said Tim Reiniger, executive
director, National Notary Association.

With hundreds of thousands of members throughout the U.S., the NNA
has created the Trusted Enrollment Agent(TM) program, a nationwide
network of notaries public available to organizations to authenticate
the identities of individuals applying for electronic identity
credentials that authorize the sending, receiving and handling of
sensitive electronic documents.

The SAFE-BioPharma(TM) standard was established by the
biopharmaceutical industry to help it transform to a fully electronic
environment from inefficient paper-based business and regulatory
processes. SAFE-BioPharma provides a high level of trust assurance for
digital identities, which are uniquely bound to corresponding digital
signatures.

About SAFE-BioPharma Association

SAFE-BioPharma Association is the non-profit association that
created and manages the SAFE-BioPharma(TM) digital identity and
signature standard for the pharmaceutical and healthcare industries.
The SAFE-BioPharma industry standard is used to mitigate legal,
regulatory and other business risk associated with
business-to-business and business-to-regulator electronic
transactions. It facilitates interoperability by providing a secure,
enforceable, and regulatory-compliant way to verify identities of
parties involved in electronic transactions. SAFE-BioPharma's vision
is to be a catalyst in transforming the biopharmaceutical and
healthcare communities to a fully electronic business environment by
2012. The Association's members include Amgen (NASDAQ: AMGN),
AstraZeneca (NYSE: AZN), Bristol-Myers Squibb (NYSE:BMY), Genzyme
(NASDAQ: GENZ), GlaxoSmithKline (NYSE: GSK), Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:
JNJ), Merck (NYSE:MRK), Pfizer (NYSE: PFE), Procter & Gamble (NYSE:
PG), Roche and Sanofi-Aventis (NYSE:SNY). For more information, visit
www.safe-biopharma.org.

SAFE-BioPharma(TM) is a trademark of SAFE-BioPharma Association.
Any use of this trademark requires approval from SAFE-BioPharma
Association.

About the National Notary Association

Established in 1957, the NNA is the leading authority on the
American Notary office and is dedicated to educating, serving and
advocating for the nation's 4.8 million Notaries. The NNA imparts
comprehensive notarial knowledge and understanding, promotes a
positive public perception of the Notary professional, and bolsters
consumer protection by promoting best practices. The Association's
high-demand professional programs, services, model legislation and
groundbreaking eNotarization technology initiatives help Notaries
advance their careers and serve the American public with the highest
level of professionalism and ethics. To learn more, visit
www.nationalnotary.org.

Trusted Enrollment Agent(TM) is a trademark of the National Notary
Association. Any use of this trademark requires approval from the
National Notary Association.

SAFE-BioPharma Association
Jon Weisberg, 801-359-9977
Mobile: 801-860-9977
Jon.weisberg@safe-biopharma.org

Copyright Business Wire 2008