Website Privacy Policy

This Privacy Statement describes the ways in which we, Novartis, collect, hold and use information about individual persons who visit this website. By using this website, you consent to the collection and use of information as set forth in this privacy policy. You also acknowledge that Novartis AG may periodically change, modify, add or remove or otherwise update this privacy policy at its discretion, without prior notification. However, we will always handle your Personal Information in accordance with the Privacy Policy that was in effect at the time of collection. It is our intention to post changes to our privacy policy on this page so that you are fully informed concerning the types of information we are gathering, how we use it, and under what circumstances it may be disclosed. Our Privacy Policy is located on our homepage and is also available on any page where Personal Data are requested. At such data collection points, further explanation may be provided, where appropriate, as to the purposes for which the data will be used.

1. Pledge on privacy

The term "Personal Data" as used in this Privacy Policy refers to information such as your name, birth date, e-mail address, mailing address, or telephone number that can be used to identify you. Generally, we will only process your Personal Data as described in this Privacy Policy. However, we reserve the right, to conduct additional processing to the extent permitted or required by law, or in support of any legal or criminal investigation.

The next sections explain how and when we collect Personal Data from you.

2. 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 you to provide us with Personal Data. In these situations, if you choose to withhold any Personal Data 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.

We may collect and use Personal Data to provide you with 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 which are evident from the circumstances or about which we inform you when we collect Personal Data from you.

3. Non-disclosure of personal data

We will not sell, share, or otherwise distribute your Personal Data to third parties except as provided in this Privacy Policy. We may disclose your Personal Data to other Novartis affiliates worldwide that agree to treat it in accordance with this Privacy Policy. Personal Data may also be transferred to third parties who act for or on our behalf, for further processing in accordance with the purpose(s) for which the data were originally collected or may otherwise be lawfully processed, such as services delivery, evaluating the usefulness of this website, marketing, data management or technical support. These third parties have contracted with us to only use Personal Data for the agreed upon purpose, and not to sell your Personal Information to third parties, and not to disclose it to third parties except as may be required by law, as permitted by us or as stated in this Privacy Policy.

Personal Data collected from you may also be transferred to a third party in the event that the business of this site or a part of it and the customer data connected with it is sold, assigned or transferred, in which case we would require the buyer, assignee or transferee to treat Personal Data in accordance with this Privacy Policy. Also, Personal Data may be disclosed to a third party if we are required to do so because of an applicable law, court order or governmental regulation, or if such disclosure is otherwise necessary in support of any criminal or other legal investigation or proceeding here or abroad.

4. Right of access, correction and objection

Whenever we process Personal Data, we take reasonable steps to ensure that your Personal Data is kept accurate and up-to date for the purposes for which it was collected. We will provide you with the ability to object to the processing of your Personal Data if such processing is not reasonably required for a legitimate business purpose as described in this policy or our compliance with law. In the case of electronic direct marketing, we will provide you with a method to opt out of receiving further marketing materials or with a method to opt in if required by law. If you wish to contact us regarding our use of your Personal Data or object to the processing of your Personal Data, please email us at [email protected]. If you contact us, please note the name of the website where you provided the information, as well as the specific information you would like us to correct, update or delete plus a proper identification of you. Requests to delete personal data will be subject to any applicable legal and ethical reporting or document filing or retention obligations imposed on us.

5. Security and confidentiality

To ensure the security and confidentiality of Personal Data that we collect online, we use data networks protected, inter alia, by industry standard firewall and password protection. In the course of handling your Personal Data, we take measures reasonably designed to protect that information from loss, misuse, unauthorized access, disclosure, alteration or destruction.

6. Data transfer abroad

We are part of the Novartis Group which is a global group of companies and has databases in different countries, some of which are operated by the local Novartis Group Company, and some of which are operated by third parties on behalf of the local Novartis Group Company. We may transfer your data to one of the Group's databases outside your country of domicile, potentially including countries which may not require an adequate level of protection for your Personal Data compared with that provided in your country. You acknowledge and agree that we may transfer your personal information to related companies or third parties outside Australia and New Zealand, including to data storage facilities and processors in Switzerland, the United Kingdom, Sweden, Japan, China, Ireland, the Netherlands, Egypt, Singapore, the USA or India. In relation to any cross-border data transfers or storage, we will take all reasonable steps to ensure that its service providers are obliged to protect the privacy of your personal information and observe strict security standards.

Novartis has adopted Binding Corporate Rules, a system of principles, rules and tools, provided by European law, in an effort to ensure effective levels of data protection, in particular relating to transfers of personal information outside the EEA and Switzerland. Read more about your rights under the Novartis Binding Corporate Rules

7. Use and disclosure

Novartis is committed to patient safety. In accordance with regulatory obligations, Novartis has a systematic process in place to collect, store and process reports of adverse events experienced by patients taking a Novartis product, when identified by a Novartis representative (or by a third party acting on behalf of Novartis). All information forwarded to the Novartis drug safety department is treated in accordance with local privacy laws and may be captured and processed in countries outside of the national territory, and shared with health authorities or other Pharmaceutical companies with whom Novartis has a license agreement, for the purpose of meeting the regulatory requirements for reporting safety information on Novartis products. We may also use that information to contact you in order to collect further information on the adverse event. To report AE's please contact https://www.novartis.com/report

8. Google Analytics

We use Google Analytics to rationalize our portfolio of websites by (i) optimizing traffic to and between corporate websites, and (ii) integrating and optimizing web pages where appropriate. “Google Analytics” is a service offered by Google Inc. “Google” that generates detailed statistics about a website's traffic and traffic sources and measures conversions and sales. Google Analytics uses “cookies” stored on your computer to help analyze how users use our website.

The information generated by the cookies about your use of our website, including your IP address, will be transmitted to and stored by Google on servers in the United States. The IP address, however, will be shortened before being sent to Google and Google can then not use it any more to identify you or your computer. Only in exceptional cases the full IP address will be transmitted to and shortened by Google in the US. For more information on how IP anonymization works please see https://support.google.com/analytics/answer/2763052

On behalf of us, Google will use the information generated by the cookies for the purpose of evaluating the use of our website, compiling reports on website activity providing us with these reports for analytical purposes.

Google may transfer this information to third parties in case of a statutory obligation or if a third party processes data on behalf of Google. Under no circumstances, Google will combine or associate your IP address with other data stored at Google.

You may prevent or stop the installation and storage of cookies by you browser settings by downloading and installing the free Opt-out Browser Add-on available at https://support.google.com/analytics/answer/2763052. We inform you that in such case you will not be able to wholly use all functions of our website.

By using our website you consent to the processing of any personal data Google will collect on you in the way and for the purpose as described above.

9. Personal information and children

Most of the services available on this site are intended for persons 18 years of age and older. Any individual who requests information about a medicine indicated for use in children must be 18 or over. We will not knowingly collect, use or disclose Personal Data from a minor under the age of 18, 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 personal data being collected from the minor, and (ii) the opportunity to object to any further collection, use, or storage of such information. We abide by laws designed to protect children.

10. Links to other sites

This Privacy Policy applies only to this website, and not to websites owned by third parties. We may provide links to other websites which 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 internet, we cannot guarantee the privacy standards of websites to which we link or be responsible for the contents of sites other than this one, and this Privacy Policy is not intended to be applicable to any linked, non-Novartis site.

11. Contact us

If you have any queries or complaints about our compliance with this Privacy Policy, or if you would like to make any recommendations or comments to improve the quality of our Privacy Policy, please email us at [email protected]

Email: [email protected]

12. Novartis Australia and New Zealand Credit Information Policy

Click on the link to view the Novartis Australia and New Zealand Credit Information Policy (PDF 0.1 MB). This policy was last updated on 8 March 2017.

What is a cookie?

Cookies are small text files that are sent to your computer when you visit a website. Cookies on Novartis Group company (Novartis) web sites do lots of different jobs, like letting you navigate between pages efficiently, storing your preferences and generally improving your experience of a website.

The EU Directive 2009/136/EC states that we can store cookies on your machine, if they are essential to the operation of this site, but that for all others we need your permission to do so.

Novartis sites can use some non-essential cookies. We do not do this to track individual users or to identify them, but to gain useful knowledge about how the sites are used so that we can keep improving them for our users. Without the knowledge we gain from the systems that use these cookies we would not be able to provide the service we do.

The types of cookies we use

If you decide to set the language, font-size or specific version of the site (e.g. high-contrast), we use “user interface customization cookies”. Once set, you do not need to specify your preferences again on another visit to the site.

If you use parts of the site that require registration to access content, we will place an “authentication cookie” on your computer. This allows you to leave and return to these parts of the site without re-authenticating yourself.

If you have Adobe Flash installed on your computer (most computers do) and you use video players, we store a “flash cookie” on your computer. These cookies are used to store data needed to play back video or audio content and store the user’s preferences.

Novartis likes to understand how visitors use our websites by using web analytics services. They count the number of visitors and tell us things about the visitors’ behaviour overall – such as identifying the search engine keywords that lead the user to the site, the typical length of stay on the site or the average number of pages a user views. For this purpose we place a “first party analytics cookie” on your computer.

We may also use services such as Google Analytics to track web statistics. In this case, Google will place a “3rd party cookie” on your computer. This is also the case when we use Google Maps.

Any data collected by using these cookies will be stored and managed by Novartis or one of its trusted affiliates in countries Novartis operates in.

For more information or how to contact Novartis, please refer to the Novartis Data Privacy Policy.

How to control cookies

If you don’t want to receive cookies, you can modify your browser so that it notifies you when cookies are sent to it or you can refuse cookies altogether. You can also delete cookies that have already been set.

If you wish to restrict or block web browser cookies which are set on your device then you can do this through your browser settings; the Help function within your browser should tell you how. Alternatively, you may wish to visit https://www.aboutcookies.org, which contains comprehensive information on how to do this on a wide variety of desktop browsers.