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Thank you for
visiting this Novartis Pharmaceuticals Corporation website. Novartis
is committed to protecting and safeguarding your privacy on the
Internet. We've developed our privacy policy from industry guidelines
and standards, and national and international laws. Thanks for
placing your trust in Novartis.
This Policy
applies to all Novartis Pharmaceuticals Corporation ("Novartis")
websites in the United States. Novartis Pharmaceuticals Corporation
is an affiliate of the Novartis Group, a world leader in healthcare
with core businesses in pharmaceuticals, consumer health, generics,
eye-care and animal health. This Policy is a statement of Novartis'
general privacy policy and practices governing the ways in which
we collect, hold and use information about individual persons.
Our privacy policy is easy to find as it is located on our homepage
and is linked to any part of a site where Personally Identifiable
Information is requested. At such data collection points, further
explanation may be provided, where appropriate, as to the purposes
for which the data will be used, or where deviations from this
general Policy are explained. This Policy, coupled with any supplementary
explanation, is designed to provide privacy protection tailored
to the individual visitor to or user of Novartis' website(s).
Table of Contents
Pledge
on Privacy
The
term Personally Identifiable Information as used in this Policy
refers to two categories of personal data: General Personally
Identifiable Information and Sensitive Personally Identifiable
Information. General Personally Identifiable Information includes
first and last name, birth date, gender, e-mail address, mailing
address, profession, education, or professional affiliations used
to identify you. Sensitive Personally Identifiable Information
includes all other levels of personal information including, but
not limited to, religion, race, health status, political opinion,
sexual preferences, income, social security number, credit card
numbers, order history, or prescribing habits. Novartis will only
collect and use Personally Identifiable Information with your
explicit permission.
Intended
Use of Personal Data
Most of our
services do not require any form of registration, allowing you
to visit our site without telling us who you are. However, some
services may require registration. When you register with us,
you may need to complete certain fields (some are required and
some are optional), as well as choose a user name and password.
In these situations, if you choose to withhold any Personally
Identifiable Information requested by us, it may not be possible
for you to gain access to certain parts of the site and for us
to respond to your query.
Anytime you
provide Personally Identifiable Information to Novartis, the company
will tell you why the information is being requested and for what
purpose it will be used. For example, we may collect and use Personally
Identifiable Information to provide you with information regarding
our products or services, to bill you for products and services
you request, to market products and services which we think may
be of interest to you, or to communicate with you for other purposes.
Information you send to our Customer Interaction Center is used
only to help resolve your problem and is otherwise kept private.
Novartis
may supplement the Personally Identifiable Information that you
provide to us via any Novartis website with information received
from you from other sources, including other Novartis websites.
Use
and Disclosure of Information
Except
as otherwise noted, Novartis may use any information you provide
to improve the content of our sites, customize the site to your
preferences, communicate information to you (if you have requested
it), for our marketing and research purposes, and for the purposes
specified in this Privacy Policy.
Novartis
will not sell, share or otherwise distribute Personally Identifiable
Information to third parties outside the Novartis Group of companies.
We may disclose your Personally Identifiable Information to other
Novartis Group companies worldwide that agree to treat it in accordance
with a comparable Privacy Policy. In addition, we may disclose
your Personally Identifiable Information to third parties, located
in the United States and/or any other country, but only (i) to
contractors we use to support our business (e.g., fulfillment
services, technical support, delivery services, and financial
institutions), in which case we will require such third parties
to agree to treat it in accordance with this Privacy Policy; (ii)
to third parties who are working with Novartis in connection with
sale or distribution of products described on such website, in
which case we will take reasonable efforts to get such third parties
to agree to treat it in accordance with this Privacy Policy; (iii)
in connection with the sale, assignment, or other transfer of
the business of this site to which the information relates, in
which case we will require any such buyer to agree to treat it
in accordance with this Privacy Policy; or (iv) where required
by applicable laws, court orders, or government regulations.
Where disclosure
of personal data to a third party is likely or necessary for whatever
reason, Novartis will endeavor to ensure that the disclosure and
intended use of the data are clearly indicated. Such third parties
may have different privacy policies. However, we endeavor to ensure
that such third parties provide the same level of protection as
Novartis and, where appropriate, we will contractually require
them to process data transferred only for the purposes expressly
authorized by Novartis. We will not share with third parties any
data about you that is Sensitive (as defined in this Policy) in
the absence of your prior and explicit consent.
Confidentiality
You
should keep in mind that no Internet transmission is ever 100%
secure or error-free. In particular, e-mail sent to or from this
site may not be secure, and you should therefore take special
care in deciding what information you send to us via e-mail. Moreover,
where you use passwords, ID numbers, or other special access features
on this site, it is your responsibility to safeguard them. While
we cannot guarantee against any loss, misuse or alteration to
data, we try to prevent such unfortunate occurrences.
Data Transfer to Novartis Affiliates
Novartis is
part of a global group of companies, some of which maintain databases
in different jurisdictions. Novartis may transfer your data to
one of its databases at affiliates within or outside your country
of domicile. If the level of privacy protection in a country does
not comply with recognized international standards, we will ensure
that data transfers to Novartis databases in that country are
adequately protected and that the transfer of data to third parties
in such countries will not occur unless we obtain your express
consent to such transfer in advance.
Anonymous
Data and "Cookies"
Most of the information that Novartis collects from its website(s)
is anonymous information, such as the pages you visit and searches
you perform. When you visit our website we do not collect any
Personally Identifiable Information from you without your permission.
Anonymous
information is used by Novartis to help improve the content of
the site and to compile aggregate statistics about individuals
using our site for internal, market research purposes. In so doing,
Novartis may install "cookies" that collect the first level domain
name of the user (e.g., "bigmail.com" from an e-mail address of
"john@bigmail.com") and the date and time of access. "Cookies"
by themselves cannot be used to discover the specific identity
of the user. A "cookie" is a small piece of information that is
sent to your browser and stored on your computer's hard drive.
Cookies do not damage your computer. You can set your browser
to notify you when you receive a "cookie"; this will enable you
to decide if you want to accept it or not.
On occasion, we may use Internet tags (also known as action tags,
single-pixel GIFs, clear GIFs, invisible GIFs and 1-by-1 GIFs) in
combination with cookies at this site and may deploy these tags through a
third-party advertising partner. These tags are placed on both online
advertisements that bring users to the site and on different pages of the
site. We use this technology to measure the visitors' responses to our
sites and the effectiveness of our advertising campaigns (including how
many times a page is opened and which information is consulted). The
third-party partner may be able to collect anonymous aggregated data about
visitors to other sites because of these Internet tags/cookies. Please be
assured that we DO NOT collect or seek through these tags or cookies any
personally identifiable information about our visitors, such as names,
addresses, e-mail addresses or telephone numbers. If you would like more
information about web tags and cookies associated with on-line advertising
or to opt-out of third-party collection of anonymous information, please
visit the Network Advertising Initiative website.
Spamming
Novartis does
not condone "spamming." "Spamming" is sending unsolicited e-mails,
usually of a commercial nature, in large numbers and repeatedly
to individuals with whom the sender has had no previous contact
or who have declined to receive such communications.
In contrast,
where Novartis believes that certain product, health, or other
information is of importance to you -- and you have previously
allowed your name and address to be used by Novartis for such
mailings - the Company reserves the right to inform you by e-mail.
Personal
Information and Children
Novartis will
not knowingly collect, use or disclose Personally Identifiable
Information from a minor under the age of 14, without obtaining
prior consent from a person with parental responsibility (e.g.,
a parent or guardian) through direct off-line contact. We will
provide the parent with (i) notice of the specific types of personally
identifiable information being collected from the minor, and (ii)
the opportunity to object to any further collection, use, or storage
of such information. Novartis abides by the Children's Online
Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) in the U.S. and respects similar
laws designed to protect children found in other countries. For
more information on COPPA, go to http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/conline/pubs/buspubs/coppa.htm.
Links to Other Sites
This Privacy
Policy applies only to Novartis' websites to the exclusion of
third party websites. Novartis may provide links to other websites
that we believe may be of interest to our visitors. We aim to
ensure that such websites are of the highest standard. However,
due to the nature of the World Wide Web, Novartis cannot guarantee
the standards of every website link it provides or be responsible
for the contents, or privacy practices and policies, of non-Novartis
sites. We encourage you to read the privacy policy of every website
you visit.
Dispute Resolution
This Privacy
Policy and any disputes relating in any way to this Privacy Policy
or the use of any person's General or Sensitive Personally Identifiable
Information shall be construed by and resolved in accordance with
the laws of the State of New Jersey. Any lawsuit that may arise
with respect to this Agreement or the Services shall be brought
only in a court of competent jurisdiction located in New Jersey.
This privacy policy is effective as of
April 17, 2002
By using this site, you signify your assent to our Privacy Policy.
If you do not agree with this policy, please do not use our site.
We reserve the right, at our discretion, to change, modify, add
or remove portions from this policy at any time. Please refer
to this page from time to time to review these and other new features.
Your continued use of our site following the postings of changes
to these terms means you accept these changes.
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