Historically, sunscreen assessment has been complicated by diverse and even conflicting data requirements among regulatory authorities. In many countries, product developers are mandated to avoid animal testing whenever possible while other countries continue to require it.

As an example, the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA), categorizes sunscreens as over-the-counter (OTC) drugs, not cosmetics. This means sunscreens sold in the US are subject to the same testing requirements as OTC pharmaceuticals which severely limits access to the UV-filter innovation found internationally.  However, with passage of the 2025 SAFE Sunscreens Act, the US Congress has directed the FDA to modernize sunscreen assessment, a move which aligns perfectly with FDA-wide efforts to replace animal testing with new approach methods (NAMs).

This webinar series, presented by NURA and ICCS, aims to identify practical solutions for UV-filter development and testing that improve predictivity while providing animal-free assessments of sunscreens. In the first session, experts will discuss the Global Perspectives on Sunscreen Regulation, covering unique experiences of implementing NAMs across Europe, the United States and Brazil. The second session will focus on Modern Safety Assessments for UV Filters, highlighting Next Generation Risk Assessment (NGRA) principles, systemic toxicity, carcinogenicity, developmental toxicity, and Read-Across approaches for sunscreens. The third session will tie everything together with a discussion of Policy and the Regulatory Path Forward for Sunscreen Safety.

REGISTER FOR SESSION 2

Thursday, August 13, 2026
10:00 am – 12:15 pm ET / 14:00–16:15 UTC

FEATURING:

Matthew Dent, PhD, Unilever

• Exposure-led, hypothesis-driven, and NAM-based risk assessment tailored for UV filters

Matthew Dent, PhD, Unilever

• Benzophenone-4 (Baltazar 2025)

Samuel M. Cohen, MD, PhD, University of Nebraska Medical Center

• (Cohen 2025)
• Provide a basis for screening for potential carcinogenicity in humans
• Illustrate a method for screening for carcinogenicity in humans based on mode of action, involving genotoxicity, immunosuppression, estrogenic activity, and cytotoxicity with regeneration.

Matthew Burbank, PhD, L’Oreal

• (Burbank 2025)

• Avobenzone (Norman et al. 2025)
• Octocrylene (Norman et al. 2026)

• Applying read-across elements

Eryn Slankster-Schmierer, MSc, PhD (moderator), Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine

Complete details on this series, including the latest updates on Session 3, are available at pcrm.org/Sunscreen.