Privacy Policy

Thank you for visiting a member of the Biotechnology Innovation Organization (BIO) family of websites. BIO and possibly affiliated organizations (“BIO” “we,” “our,” “us”) maintain these sites (each, strictly for reference in this privacy policy, a “BIO Site” and collectively “BIO Sites”). This privacy policy (the “Privacy Policy”) applies to BIO Sites, mobile applications, and other online services that link to this Privacy Policy (the “Services”). By using the Services, you agree to the terms of this Privacy Policy. In addition, by using the Services, you agree to the terms of the BIO TERMS OF USE, which govern your use of the Services.  Please note that the Privacy Policy does not apply to other websites of other companies, organizations or our members to which we may link, third party sites that link to us, or to our off-line activities.

IF YOU DO NOT AGREE WITH ANY TERMS OR PRACTICES DESCRIBED IN THIS PRIVACY POLICY, OR BIO’S TERMS OF USE, THEN PLEASE DO NOT USE THE SERVICES.

Information Collection

Generally, you are not required to provide information about yourself when you visit the Services. You can browse most of our BIO Sites and view our content anonymously (except regarding some information like Google analytics or “informatics”). The type and amount of information BIO collects about you varies according to how you use the Services, BIO Sites or other BIO operations and events. However, we may ask you for (or collect from you) some or all of the following types of information when you access various content or features, submit information to us, or directly contact us with questions or feedback:

• Contact information, such as name, e-mail address, phone number and postal address;
• Demographic information, such as gender, age, income, and residency status;
• Geolocation information and zip code information;
• Communication preferences and information about your interests;
• Search queries;
• Correspondence and other information that you send to us; and
• Additional information as otherwise described to you at the point of collection or pursuant to your consent.

And, for example, we may collect certain information automatically when you visit the Services, including:

• Your Internet Protocol (IP) address, which is the number automatically assigned to your computer whenever you access the Internet and that can sometimes be used to derive your general geographic area;
• Other unique identifiers, including mobile device identification numbers;
• Your browser type and operating system;
• Sites you visited before and after visiting the Services;
• Pages you view and links you click within the Services;
• Information collected through cookies, web beacons, Local Shared Objects, and other technologies (BY USING THE SERVICES, YOU CONSENT TO OUR USE OF COOKIES AND SIMILAR TECHNOLOGIES);
• Information about your interactions with e-mail messages, such as the links clicked on and whether the messages were received, opened, or forwarded; and
• Standard Server Log Information.

Use of Information

We may use information that we collect through the Services for a variety of purposes, including, but not limited to:

• Provide you with the Services or services, newsletters, and information you request;
• Respond to correspondence that we receive from you;
• Contact you via email and otherwise about services that we think might be of interest to you;
• Maintain or administer the Services, perform operational analyses, or for other internal purposes to improve the quality of our operations, the Services, and other services we offer;
• Provide you with Services or services associated with, or notify you of, BIO advocacy, BIO courses, conferences or convention (“BIO Events”), BIO One-on-One Partnering™ (“Partnering”) and BIO Business Solutions opportunities;
• Offer (or report resolution of) contests, sweepstakes, programs, registrations and promotions;
• Enabling you to participate in text message and email advocacy campaigns;
• Enabling you to participate in Tweets, blogs, Facebook posts, and patch-through phone calling services (or similar services);
• Customize and personalize your use of the Services; and
• As otherwise described, or pursuant to your consent.

Sharing of Information

We seek to maintain your trust, and we want you to understand when and with whom we may share the information we collect:

• Service Providers and Vendors: We may share your information with service providers that perform certain functions, Services or services on our behalf (such as to host the Services, fulfil requests, provide services, manage databases, perform analyses, provide customer service, or send communications for us).
• Stakeholders, Vendors and Members: We may share your information with our members, vendors and select stakeholders within related to the biotech industry. These entities may use your information to make predictions about your interests, to provide Partnering services, to facilitate your participation in BIO Events, and to provide you with special offers, promotional materials, advertisements, and other materials.
• Advocacy Stakeholders and Vendors: We may share your information with various advocacy stakeholders in the biotech or related industries to meet our advocacy goals and support our communication initiatives. These entities in combination with vendors to BIO may use your information to support these efforts.
• Administrative or Legal Process: We may disclose your information to third parties in order to protect the legal rights, safety, and security of our organization, our corporate affiliates, subsidiaries, business partners, and the users of our Services; enforce our Terms of Use; respond to and resolve claims or complaints; prevent fraud or for risk management purposes; and comply with or respond to law enforcement or legal process or a request for cooperation by a government or other entity, whether or not legally required.
• Aggregate Information: We may share aggregate information, such as demographic and usage statistics, with advertisers, sponsors or other organizations.

In addition, we may allow third parties to place and read cookies, web beacons, Local Shared Objects, and similar technologies to collect information through the Services. For example, our third-party service providers may use these technologies to collect information that helps us with traffic measurement, research, and analytics.

Note, online fora (e.g. blogs, Facebook postings, etc.) may be publicly accessible and other users may view information you post on them.

Personal Information

There are certain BIO Sites and features that require you to provide (voluntary and at your option) certain personal information before you may participate in the respective BIO Site (e.g., contest/sweepstakes; subscribe to newsletter). In addition, when you make a purchase, or sign up for a paid service, we will also collect your credit card information as additional personal information. We will use your credit card information only to complete the transaction you have requested.

Some personal information you have provided may be used in combination with other information obtained through other means. For example, we may use your name, company, and e-mail address provided to us online in conjunction with our membership records in order to provide you with a user name and password to access a BIO Site, forum, or specialized area. In other instances, an online inquiry about a purchase from us may prompt a review of an order placed by you over the telephone.

BIO also reserves the right to sell or license the use of information collected from the Services. However, it is our policy to not disclose externally with third parties personal information collected on our site, except in the following instances:

• The personal information provided to us may be transferred, disclosed, sold, licensed or shared with third parties to fulfil a request for our products, programs, Services or services and to those who may be engaged by us specifically to handle and deliver certain activities (e.g., sweepstakes) and perform other technical and processing functions, such as sending e-mail, fulfilling orders, or otherwise operating our sites. They receive access to personal information needed to perform their functions, but may not use it for other purposes.
• Information provided to us through correspondence may be shared (as appropriate) with other interested parties, including our members.
• We also may disclose personal information to third parties (and our members) (1) when required by law or when the information is pertinent to judicial or government investigations or proceedings; (2) to protect and defend our rights and property; or (3) when necessary to protect our interests, our website(s), the safety of its users, or the public.

Other than as set forth above, we currently do not intend to share your personal information with third parties for other purposes. However, in the future, we may disclose personal information you have provided to third parties for additional purposes. In the event we do, we will provide notice of such use to our users as appropriate, i.e. to those that have allowed us to communicate with them.

Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA)

We do not solicit or knowingly collect information from minors under the age of 13, in compliance with the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA). For more information about COPPA, please visit: http://www.ftc.gov/opa/2010/03/coppa.shtm.

Information Correction or Changes

You have the ability to correct or change certain information in our records, such as your address and contact information. Generally, you may change this information at any time and as often as necessary. If you need assistance or have questions about correcting information, you can contact us via e-mail at info@bio.org.

E-Mails or Text Messages

If you have provided us with your e-mail address or mobile phone number to subscribe to a Service or services, or to receive notifications or updates about one of our offerings, and you wish to change your address or no longer wish to receive these communications, simply follow the unsubscribe instructions that appear on our sites or in the e-mail or text message communications.

Please note, any information we have collected may remain in back-up storage, archival, and/or log files, for some period of time after a deletion request. This may be the case even though no information about your account remains actively used as described in this Privacy Policy.

Security

We have industry standard security procedures and best practices to help protect against loss, misuse, and unauthorized access to the information you provide to us. Please note, any data transmission or storage cannot be guaranteed to be 100% secure. As a result, while we strive to protect your information and privacy, we cannot guarantee or warrant the security of any information you disclose or transmit to the Services or services and cannot be responsible for the theft, destruction, or inadvertent disclosure of your information.

Consent to Transfer

In the event that BIO is acquired by or merged with another company, or in connection with the potential sale or transfer of some or all of the assets of our websites, BIO reserves the right to sell, license or transfer to a third party entity your information.

California Privacy Rights

We do not share information that we collect with third parties for the third party’s direct marketing purposes.

Some web browsers may transmit “do-not-track” signals to the websites with which the user communicates. Because of differences in how web browsers incorporate and activate this feature, it is not always clear whether users intend for these signals to be transmitted, or whether they even are aware of them. Because there currently is no industry standard concerning what, if anything, websites should do when they receive such signals, we currently do not take action in response to these signals. If and when a final standard is established and accepted, we will reassess how to respond to these signals. In some cases, third parties may be able to collect information about a user’s online activities over time and across different websites when he or she uses our Services.

Social Networking Services

We have worked with certain third-party social media providers to offer social networking services through the Services. For example, you can use third-party social networking services, including but not limited to Facebook, Twitter, and others to share information about your experience on our Services with your friends and followers on those social networking services. These social networking services may be able to collect information about you, including your activity on our Services. These third-party social networking services also may notify your friends, both on our Services and on the social networking services themselves, that you are a user of our Services or about your use of our Services, in accordance with applicable law and their own privacy policies. If you choose to access or make use of third-party social networking services, we may receive information about you that you have made available to those social networking services, including information about your contacts on those social networking services.

Notification of Changes

Periodically we may make changes to this policy. You are responsible for periodically checking our Services for changes to this Privacy Policy. Your continued use our Services after these changes are posted constitutes your agreement to the changes with regard to any information collected.

Contact Information

We welcome your feedback regarding this Privacy Policy. If you have any comments, questions or concerns about this privacy policy you may contact us at:

Biotechnology Innovation Organization
1201 New York Avenue NW Suite 1300
Washington, DC 20005
Tele: (202) 962-9200
Fax: (202) 488-6301
E-Mail: info@bio.org

Last Updated
This Privacy Policy was updated on June 2018.