Privacy Center

Regardless of how you interact with us, Biogen may collect some information that identifies you or that can be used to contact or distinguish you as an individual (“Personal Information”).  We may need to collect Personal Information about you to provide you with services or information you request, or to facilitate commercial engagements with you. If you do not provide Personal Information, we may not be able to provide services or information to you or enter commercial engagements with you.

We will only collect Personal Information about you that is necessary for one or more of our legitimate business purposes, or is required by law.

Biogen collects the following categories of Personal Information:

(a)        Personal Information that we collect directly from you:

We collect Personal Information directly from you when you register with our websites, subscribe to online services, interact with us, or otherwise provide information directly to us. The following are examples of Personal Information that we may collect directly from you:

• Name;
• Contact details (e-mail address, telephone number, mailing address etc.);
• Username and password;
• Age/Date of birth;
• Government identification numbers;
• Communication preferences;
• Business information, including employment history, education history, qualifications, occupation and areas of specialization; and
• Other Personal Information necessary for the administration of certain online services.

(b)        Other Information that we collect when you visit our Websites:

We use a variety of common, automated data collection technologies, such as internet tags or cookies (“Data Collection Technologies”), to assess how our Websites are used, to personalize your experience, and to deliver content tailored to your interests. In doing this, we collect information about you when you visit our Websites. When you request pages on our Websites, for example, our servers automatically log your internet protocol (IP) address. The IP address is a unique number assigned to your computer to identify it whenever you are surfing the Web. We use the IP address to understand the web pages you visit. The IP address does not identify you personally, but it allows us to maintain communications with you as you move about our Websites. Generally, these types of data elements (“Other Information”) do not reveal your identity or do not relate directly to you or any other individual.

The following are some examples of Other Information:

• device ID, including IP address;
• browser and device information, including operating system;
• aggregated information such as “click stream” information such as entry and exit points for the Websites (including referring URLs or domains), certain Websites traffic statistics, page views, and impressions;
• geolocation (if using a mobile application and you consent to providing it); and
• other information collected through cookies, pixel tags and other technologies described in more detail later in this Privacy Policy.

(c)        Sensitive Personal Information

We generally avoid collecting Sensitive Personal Information, such as health data and precise geolocation data (“Sensitive Personal Information”).  In some cases, however, we may need to collect such Sensitive Personal Information to facilitate providing services to you, such as certain patient support service offerings or when reporting product complaints or drug adverse events.  Where required to comply with applicable data protection and privacy laws, we will obtain your explicit consent to collect Sensitive Personal Information about you.

You can find additional information about how we collect and use Consumer Health Data in our Consumer Health Data Privacy Policy. 

(d)        Data enhancement

In addition, we may collect information about you from publicly available sources, third parties, and directly from you through your interactions with us.

By providing your Personal Information, you agree that, where it is permitted by local law, we may use your Personal Information for the following purposes:

• to communicate with you, including by mail, telephone, facsimile, e-mail, mobile alerts and SMS text messaging;
• to notify you of our new products and services and to provide you with product news and updates, promotional materials or newsletters, tips, or other helpful information;
• to seek your views on our products and services;
• to monitor our regulatory compliance;
• to respond to your requests;
• to improve the content or personalize our communications;
• to create a profile about you to match you with education/awareness programs, collaboration opportunities or obtain services from you;
• to consider your application for employment;
• for our own administrative and quality assurance purposes, such as to perform data analysis to identify usage trends, determine the effectiveness of our promotional campaigns and general operation of our websites;
• to improve our level of service; and
• for other purposes that may be detailed in this privacy policy.

When we collect your Personal Information, we will take reasonable steps to advise you of what Personal Information we are collecting, the purposes for which we are collecting the Personal Information and will use such Personal Information only for stated primary or related secondary purposes. 

Product reports. If you contact us regarding a product experience, we may use the Personal Information you provide to generate complaints or adverse event reports.

Marketing. We may use your Personal Information for marketing-related activities, including to communicate with you about our products, services, and company and to invite your participation in engagement opportunities (e.g., surveys). You can unsubscribe from marketing communications by clicking the "Unsubscribe" link included in each message.

Your privacy is very important to us.  We may disclose your Personal Information to certain third parties listed below, including third parties who provide us with various business services.  We will not sell your Personal Information.  We will not otherwise disclose your Personal Information without your consent, except where such disclosure is reasonably necessary for normal business operations and such disclosure is in accordance with all applicable data protection and privacy laws.

(a)        Affiliates

We may disclose Personal Information to our affiliated companies for the purposes described in this privacy notice, including for marketing purposes, and to be consistent with our goal of providing our consumers with the superior product and consumer experience that our customers have come to expect from us around the globe. Affiliates are those companies that are under common control of our parent company Biogen, Inc.

(b)        Third parties/Service Providers

We may disclose your Personal Information to third-party service providers who provide services to us, such as: Website hosting, professional services, including information technology services and related infrastructure, customer service, e-mail delivery, auditing and other similar services. We may also disclose your Personal Information to third parties to perform services you request or functions you initiate through us. In addition, we may disclose your Personal Information to other companies that we collaborate with to jointly develop and/or market our products. If we allow a third party to have access to your Personal Information, they will only be permitted access for purposes that are consistent with this privacy notice and will be required to protect your Personal Information in accordance with all applicable data protection laws.

Certain of Biogen’s practices with these entities may be considered sharing of Personal Information under applicable law. You may have the right to pt-out of sharing of Personal Information for purposes of cross-context behavioral advertising, which in other states is the right to opt-out of targeted advertising, and the right to limit the use of Sensitive Personal Information. To exercise these rights, please see the “Your Privacy Choices & Rights” section below.

(c)        Law enforcement

In certain circumstances, we may be called upon to release your Personal Information in response to a court order, subpoena, search warrant, law or regulation. We plan to cooperate in responding to such requests, taking appropriate measures to ensure that the requester understands the sensitive nature of the Personal Information that they may receive. We also reserve the right to cooperate with law enforcement authorities in investigating and prosecuting users who violate our rules or engage in behavior that is illegal or harmful to individuals or the Personal Information we are responsible for.

(d)        Regulators and physicians

If you contact us regarding your experience in using one of our products, we may use the Personal Information you provide as necessary to submit complaint or adverse event reports to local and international health or pharmaceutical regulators, and as otherwise required by law. We also may use the Personal Information to contact the prescribing physician to follow up regarding an unexpected event involving use of our product.

(e)        Corporate transactions

We may disclose your Personal Information to a third party relating to a corporate reorganization, merger, sale, joint venture, assignment, transfer or other disposition of all or any portion of our business, assets or stock, including regarding any bankruptcy or similar proceedings.

(f)         Other Legal Reasons

In addition, we may use or disclose your Personal Information as we deem necessary or appropriate: (1) under applicable law, including laws outside your country of residence; (2) to respond to requests from public and government authorities including public and government authorities outside your country of residence; (3) to comply with subpoenas and other legal processes; (4) to pursue available remedies or limit damages we may sustain; (5) to protect our operations or those of any of our affiliates; (6) to protect the rights, privacy, safety or property of Biogen, our affiliates, you and others; and (7) to enforce our terms and conditions.

If you provide us with a mobile phone number and consent to receive text messages from Biogen for transactional, marketing or promotional purposes, we will not share your mobile phone number or consent with third parties or affiliates for their marketing or promotional purposes. Your Opt-In consent to receive text messages is not transferable to another party.

To see additional terms for patients, please visit the Biogen Support Services Text Program Terms. 

We use Other Information or additional information that we collect for any purpose not prohibited by law.  We may collect, compile, store, publish, promote, report, sell, or otherwise disclose or use all Other Information, provided that such information does not personally identify you.  If we combine Other Information or additional information with Personal Information in a way that can identify or be used to identify you, we will treat that information as Personal Information.

As a global company, Biogen conducts business in many countries. Please note that permitted transfers of Personal Information to third parties or other companies within the Biogen group include the transfer of data from one country to another and may include transfers to a country where the laws provide different protection from your country. In such cases, we will take appropriate measures to ensure adequate data protection in accordance with applicable data protection laws.

Manage email. You may elect to receive email updates about developments regarding Biogen. If you decide, at any later time, that you no longer wish to receive these emails, you may unsubscribe to any such contact list by using the “Unsubscribe” links within the electronic communication channel, or by sending an email entitled “Unsubscribe” to privacy@biogen.com.

Manage cookies. Most web browsers allow control of cookies through the browser settings. However, if you do not accept a cookie, certain elements of the Website may not function correctly or completely. For more information on managing cookies, please see the section below entitled “Cookies.”

The US state in which you live may have a data protection law that provides you with one or more of the specific rights listed below.  If you live in a state that provides one or more of these specific rights, we will provide these rights to you based on your state’s law:

• To opt-out of sharing your Personal Information for cross-context behavioral advertising; 

• To opt-out of the sharing of your data for targeted advertising;

• To request access to the Personal Information we’ve collected about you; 

• To receive a representative summary of the Personal Information we’ve collected about you; or to send a summary directly to another organization;

• To request to know about the Personal Information we process about you or, in other states, to request we acknowledge our processing of your Personal Information 

• To request the categories of Personal Information collected;

• To request the categories of sources from which your Personal Information was collected; 

• To request to know the business or commercial purposes for which Biogen collected your Personal Information;

• To request to know the categories of your Personal Information that were disclosed for a business or commercial purpose;

• To request a list of the categories of third parties with whom Biogen shared your Personal Information;

• To request that we correct your Personal Information; 

• To request that we remove or delete your Personal Information;

• To request that we limit the processing of your Sensitive Personal Information;

• To opt-out of processing of Sensitive Personal Information;

• To appeal the denial of a data access rights request; and 

• To lodge a complaint with the data protection authority in your jurisdiction.

Please note that some of the above rights are limited by applicable information protection law and we have the right to collect, process and hold your Personal Information to perform our legal obligations. For example, we may not comply with your request to amend or remove information that was provided to Biogen by a healthcare professional or a consumer regarding an adverse drug event. 

We may require you to provide additional information necessary to confirm your identity before we comply with any request made by you.

To exercise any of the above mentioned rights, or to learn of other rights in the state in which you live with respect to your Personal Information, please complete the form located at our online Data Subject Request portal or, if you prefer, you can reach us by emailing privacy@biogen.com, or calling us toll-free at +1(844) 430-1179. 

If we are not able to provide the requested information or make the change you requested, you will be provided with the reasons for such decisions. You may be entitled, however, to appeal our decisions and can do so by following the instructions provided in the correspondence we send to you communicating our decision. Under local law, you may also be entitled to lodge a complaint with your local data-protection authority or regulator.

We will not discriminate against you for exercising any of the rights described above, although we may not be able to continue to provide you products and services or it may otherwise affect the way we are able to interact with you.

Data Collection Technologies.  In addition to collecting your IP address as described above, we may also use certain Data Collection Technologies on our Websites such as:

Cookies. Cookies are small text files placed in your computer browser or other web-accessing device directories to store your information about your use of the Websites and your activities online (collectively, “Cookies”).  A Cookie will typically contain the name of the domain (internet location) from which the Cookie has come, the “lifetime” of the Cookie (i.e. when does it expire), and a value, usually a randomly generated unique number.  To find out more about Cookies, including how to see what Cookies have been set on your device and how to manage and delete them, visit www.allaboutcookies.org.

We use first-party, session, and persistent cookies. These cookies allow us to distinguish you from other users of our websites, and to enhance this website and your experience when you browse our websites.

If you do not wish to receive Cookies or wish to manage when you accept Cookies in general, you may set your browser to reject Cookies or to alert you when a Cookie is placed on your computer.  Although you are not required to accept our Cookies, if you set your browser to reject Cookies, you may not be able to use all the features and functionality of our websites. To learn more Biogen’s cookie policy, please visit Biogen’s cookie policy here.

Internet tags. Occasionally, we may use Internet tags (also known as Web beacons, action tags, single-pixel GIFs, clear GIFs, invisible GIFs and 1-by-1 GIFs) on our websites.

Cookies and Internet tags are placed on different pages throughout our websites. We also use them to measure responses to our websites. We may deploy Cookies and Internet tags through our analytical service partners.

Social Plugins. Our Website may also use social plugins (e.g., the Facebook “Like” button) to enable you to easily share information with others. When you visit our website, the operator of the social plugin may be able to place a Cookie on your computer, enabling that operator to recognize individuals who have previously visited our website.  For further details about the information shared via a social media plugin, you should refer to that social media website’s privacy statement.

For more information on Data Collection Technologies, please refer to Exhibit A:  FOCUS ON DATA COLLECTION TECHNOLOGIES.

Online Advertising. We also use Data Collection Technologies to manage our online advertising program. These technologies are provided by our ad management partners and other third parties.  We, and our ad management partners, may use these to track the actions of users of the websites, to measure statistics of our marketing efforts, and to deliver advertisements on third party websites.

We support the Self-Regulatory Principles for Online Behavioral Advertising of the Digital Advertising Alliance (“Principles”).  This means that we allow you to exercise choice regarding the collection of information about your online activities over time and across third-party websites for online interest based advertising purposes.  More information about these Principles can be found at www.aboutads.info/.

If you want to “opt out” of receiving online interest-based advertisements, please follow the instructions at www.aboutads.info/choices, or  http://www.networkadvertising.org/choices/.  An “opt-out” Cookie will be placed on your device indicating that you do not want to receive interest-based advertisements.  If you delete Cookies on your device generally, you will need to opt-out again.

Please note that when you “opt-out” of receiving interest-based advertisements, this does not mean you will no longer see advertisements from us.  It means that the online ads that you do see will not be based on your interests. When you “opt-out” of receiving interest-based advertisements through one of the links above, these Data Collection Technologies may still collect information about your use of the websites, including for analytics.

Advertisers. We do not permit advertisers to display their advertisements on our websites.

Do not track (DNT). We do not respond to DNT signals offered by some browsers.

Global Privacy Control (GPC). We also support the Global Privacy Control, which is a browser-based opt-out preference signal that communicates your privacy preferences to the websites you visit. For more information on the Global Privacy Control, please visit their website here. Note GPC will apply only to the use of a GPC-enabled browser with the GPC capability activated. If you disable this feature or change browsers or devices to one that does not support GPC, you will need to manually manage your settings on the website. Some internet browsers may not support GPC. Please check your device, browser, or application settings for additional information on how to enable the GPC capability, if it is available. 

We have implemented reasonable safeguards designed to prevent loss, misuse and unauthorized access, disclosure or modification of Personal Information provided or collected through your interactions with us.  Unfortunately, no system or online transmission of data can be guaranteed to be 100% secure and you should always take appropriate security measures to protect your Personal Information, including ensuring that you have up-to-date antivirus software.

We provide products and services around the world. Accordingly, we store and process Personal Information on Biogen’s servers, and the servers of third parties we hire to provide our services, worldwide. These servers may be located outside the country from which you interacted with Biogen.

We retain your Personal Information for no longer than is necessary for the purposes for which it has been collected.

Our websites may feature links to third-party websites that we believe you might find useful and informative. We do not endorse or recommend these websites’ content or services, and we are not responsible for the privacy practices of the operators of these other websites.  We encourage you to be aware of and read the privacy notice of each website you visit.  When you link these third-party websites, please remember that you are bound by the privacy policy of the third-party.  

We may also partner with other companies to provide you with content or services on a joint or “co-branded” basis using a co-branded website with both the Biogen logo and the logo of the co-branded collaborator displayed. In these situations, we may share your Personal Information and/or Other Information with these co-branded collaborators to the extent permitted by this privacy notice and applicable local law. Please note that you should read the individual privacy policies of the co-branded websites, as these policies may differ in some respects from other Biogen privacy notices.

We recognize the importance of protecting the privacy of children. Our websites and services are neither intended for children nor are they designed to attract child users. Our websites, their content and our services are intended for users over the age of eighteen (18). We do not knowingly collect any Personal Information from children under age eighteen (18). When a user discloses Personal Information to us, the user is representing to us that he or she is at least eighteen (18) years of age.  If we learn a user under the age of eighteen (18) has volunteered Personal Information, we will delete such information from our active databases.

If you are a California resident, California law may provide you with additional rights regarding our use of your personal information. To learn more about your California privacy rights, click here.

If you have any concerns about the way your Personal Information has been collected or handled by Biogen, or any queries regarding this privacy statement, you can contact Biogen’s Global Privacy Office at privacy@biogen.com.

You can also write to the following address:

Global Privacy Office
Biogen MA Inc.
225 Binney Street
Cambridge, MA 02142
USA

We may use certain Data Collection Technologies on our websites, including Cookies.  Cookies are small text files placed in your computer browser or other web-accessing device directories to store your information about your use of our websites and your activities online (collectively, “Cookies”).  A Cookie will typically contain the name of the domain (internet location) from which the Cookie has come, the “lifetime” of the Cookie (i.e. when does it expire), and a value, usually a randomly generated unique number.  To find out more about Cookies, including how to see what Cookies have been set on your device and how to manage and delete them, visit www.allaboutcookies.org.

We use first-party, session, and persistent cookies, as described below:

• First-party cookies – cookies set by the website displayed in the browser window – identified by the domain name in the address bar of the browser window.
• Session cookies – cookies that expire at the end of a browser session, starting with the time when a user opens the browser window, and finishing when the user exits the browser.
• Persistent cookies – cookies that ‘persist’ (are stored) in the device after the end of a browser session and therefore can allow the preferences or actions of the user to be remembered when they return to the Website.

These cookies allow us to distinguish you from other users of our websites, and to enhance our websites and your experience when you browse our websites.  We use cookies on our websites to:

• direct users to the relevant sections on the website;
• make sure the website has a consistent look across different browsers and devices;
• enable complex areas of the Website to function; and
• track aggregated statistics about visits to the website to help us improve Website performance.

These are the specific cookies we use on our websites, with information on how they function:

• We only use first-party cookies or cookies that function as first-party cookies.
• We do not allow other websites or third parties to use our cookies for their own purposes or to use their own cookies on your computer when you visit our website.

Most Web browsers allow control of cookies through the browser settings. You can set your browser to notify you when you receive a cookie, which will enable you to decide if you want to accept it or not. However, if you do not accept a cookie, certain elements of the website may not function correctly or completely.

To find out more about cookies, including how to see what cookies have been set and how to the delete them, visit www.allaboutcookies.org.

Internet tags. Occasionally, we may use Internet tags (also known as web beacons, action tags, single-pixel GIFs, clear GIFs, invisible GIFs and 1-by-1 GIFs) on certain web pages or in emails we send to you.  We use this technology to measure the registered user’s responses to our Websites, including how many times a page is opened and which information is consulted, as well as to measure the use of this page. We may use tags to help determine which email messages sent by us were opened and whether a message was acted upon.

Social plugins. We may use social plugins (e.g., the Facebook “Like” button) to enable you to easily share information with others. When you visit our Website, the operator of the social plugin may be able to place a cookie on your computer, enabling that operator to recognize individuals who have previously visited our Website. If you have previously logged into the associated social media website (e.g., Facebook) before browsing on our Website, the social plugin allows that social media website to receive information about your visit to certain pages on our Website. The social plugin may collect this information for any visitors who have logged into social networks, whether they specifically interact with the plugin on our Websites (e.g., by clicking “Like” or “Share”) or not. The social plugin may also allow the social media website to share information about your activities on our Websites with other users of their social media website. For further details about the information shared via a social media plugin, you should refer to that social media site’s privacy statement.

Google Analytics. This Website uses Google Analytics, a web analytics service provided by Google, Inc. ("Google"). Google Analytics uses Cookies. The information generated by the Cookie about your use of this Website is generally transferred to a Google server in the United States and stored there. Because we have activated “internet protocol anonymization” on our websites, Google shortens your IP address at a point within the European Economic Area before transfer to the United States. This means that the full IP address will only be transferred to Google in the United States only in exceptional circumstances for shortening there.

Google will use the received information to evaluate your use of our websites, to compile reports on website activity, and to provide other services related to website usage and internet usage. The IP address provided by your browser as part of Google Analytics will not be merged with any other Google data.