Skip to main content

MD Newsline Network Privacy Policy

This Privacy Policy describes the privacy practices of MD Newsline and its affiliates in relation to your use of our websites, mobile applications and other resources intended for use by healthcare professionals and health stakeholders which we refer to as the “MD Newsline Network,” including the information and services made available to users of the MD Newsline Network, such as medical news, reference content, applications, sponsored programs, advertising, email communications, continuing medical education, market research opportunities and discussion forums (collectively, the “Services”).

This Privacy Policy does not apply to our properties and services that display a link to a different privacy policy. In the event that we expand the MD Newsline Network  that company may operate under its own privacy policy accessible via a link on its properties until we integrate its privacy practices with ours, at which point a link to this Privacy Policy will be displayed on its properties.

We provide information and services as a professional resource intended to support healthcare professionals in their efforts to provide high quality medical care to under served patients.  By agreeing to the MD Newsline Terms of Use, you confirm that you have read and understand this Privacy Policy which explains how we collect, disclose, transfer, secure and use information about you in connection with your use of the Services and the rights and choices you have regarding these activities. If you do not want us to collect and use information about you as described in this Privacy Policy, then you should not use the Services.

By using the Services, you acknowledge that we will store, use and otherwise process your information in the United States and any other country from where the applicable MD Newsline Network property is operated. Please be aware that the privacy laws and standards in certain countries may differ from those that apply in the country in which you reside. Unless otherwise specified herein or on the property from which you have accessed this Privacy Policy, MD Newsline is the controller of the personal information that we collect about you as described in this Privacy Policy.

Information Collected
Information about your use of the Services is collected as follows:

Registration

In order to use the Services, you may be required to register an account and provide certain personal information such as your name, email address, zip/postal code, profession, occupation, specialty and depending on your country of practice, your medical license number or equivalent. You may choose to update or supplement the personal information that you provided at registration at any time through your account settings or by contacting MD Newsline Customer Service.

Services Information. We automatically collect and store information about your use of the Services, such as your engagement with particular content including editorial, advertisements, sponsored informational programs from our advertisers, which may include pharmaceutical companies (“Sponsored Programs”), whether you opened a particular email, clicked on a link, your search queries and how often and when you engage with the Services. We also collect information about your device when you access the Services including IP address, browser information (including referring URL), cookie information and advertising ID (which is a unique, user-resettable identification number for advertising associated with a mobile device). We use cookies and other tracking technologies, such as pixels, tags, web beacons and software development kits, to collect the information about your use of the Services and your device. For more information about our use of cookies and other tracking technologies in relation to your use of the MD Newsline Network, see our Cookie Policy.

Market Research. You may be invited to participate in market research surveys conducted by us or on our behalf for our own internal business purposes and also market research surveys conducted by or on behalf of third party sponsors that commissioned the survey. For some surveys, you may be asked to provide personal information for re-contact (e.g., by e-mail or phone) or payment fulfillment purposes.

Information and Registration Forms. From time to time we may offer you the opportunity to receive additional information or services from us or from third parties, including our advertisers (e.g., sample request, sales rep visit, direct marketing, etc.), or to register to attend live events, either in-person or via livestream. If you wish to participate in such opportunities, you may be asked to provide personal information to fulfill the request. Unless otherwise specified in the request form, we may use such information as described in this Privacy Policy and the third party, if applicable, will be required to use such personal information as described at the point of collection.

Information from Third Party Sources. We may obtain additional information about you from third party sources to assist us in providing the Services. For example, we may use third party information to verify and update your registration information, for research purposes or to personalize the Services, including advertising.

Non-registered Users. You must register with the MD Newsline Network to access our newsletter however, you can access information on our website without registering. Even if you have not registered, we collect information about your use of the Services through the use of cookies and other tracking technologies. The information we collect includes the referring website, if applicable, the type of browser you use, the material viewed, and the time and date that you accessed the Services.

How Your Information May be Used
Information about you may be used for the following purposes:

Provision of the Services. We may use the information collected about you to provide and improve the Services, and to develop new Services.

Member Profiles. We may associate information that we have collected about your use of the Services with your registration information and any other information we have about you, as described in this Privacy Policy, thereby creating a profile of you that we may update from time to time (“Member Profile”).

Communications. By registering as a member of the MD Newsline Network, you agree to the use of your registration information and other information collected about you as described in this Privacy Policy to communicate with you about the Services and other information that may be of interest to you. These communications may be conveyed through a variety of channels, subject to applicable law, including emails and may contain advertisements and other promotional materials from third party sponsors, including pharmaceutical companies.

Personalize Services, Including Advertising. We may personalize the Services, including the advertising you see within the MD Newsline Network, on third party websites and in our email communications, based on information included in your opt in information. For example, a user who MD Newsline believes is a cardiologist or who has browsed cardiology content with the MD Newsline Network may be served an advertisement promoting a particular cardiac product within the MD Newsline Network, on third party websites and/or within an email that a user who MD Newsline believes is a neurologist or has not browsed cardiology content will not see.

We partner with third parties to manage and conduct our advertising activities including advertising on our websites and on third party websites. These third parties may use cookies and other tracking technologies to deliver this advertising based on your activities and interests as inferred from your use of the Services and other information they have about you. Also, advertisers may use their own cookies and other tracking technologies in the advertisements served to you through the Services, some of which may enable the advertiser to obtain personal information that can be used to specifically identify you, including the fact that you saw the advertisement, to the extent that you have separately provided consent to the advertiser or to the third party providing the tracking technology.

Some advertisers use companies other than MD Newsline to serve their advertisements on their behalf and to monitor users’ responses to these advertisements through the use of cookies and other tracking technologies. While MD Newslinegenerally permits the use of third party tracking technologies based on an understanding that they comply with the MD Newsline Advertising Policy, we do not have control over these third parties’ use of cookies and other tracking technologies or how they manage the information they gather through them and MD Newslinemay be unable to verify compliance with the MD Newsline Advertising Policy.

Two of the third parties that MD Newsline works with are Google and Facebook. In addition to using the information it collects performing services for MD Newsline, Google may also use such information as described in its privacy policy. To see how Google may use information collected through our use of the Google services on the MD Newsline site, visit https://www.google.com/policies/privacy/partners. While Facebook does not provide any personal information to MD Newsline, Facebook may use information that it has about you and that it collects performing services for MD Newsline (which may be associated with personal information that Facebook has about you) as described in its privacy policy available at https://www.facebook.com/about/privacy.

Verification Purposes. We may use your information in conjunction with information from third parties to recognize you as a registered member when you visit one of our properties and to verify your identity and/or professional credentials. We may require you to provide proof of your identity, including that you are a healthcare professional, and if you are unable to do so to our reasonable satisfaction, we reserve the right to deny you access to the Services. While we take steps to verify that our members who identify as healthcare professionals are actually healthcare professionals, we make no guarantee as to their identity, professional credentials or licensure status.

Account Management. We may use your information to administer your account, respond to your inquiries, fulfill your requests and send you administrative communications about the Services.

Investigations. We may use your information to detect, investigate and defend against fraudulent or unlawful activity, violations of the MD Newsline Terms of Use and to otherwise establish, exercise and defend our legal rights.

Sharing Your Information with Third Parties
Information about your use of the Services may be shared as follows:

Service Providers. We work with third party service providers to help us provide the Services and to otherwise assist us in the operation of the MD Newsline Network, including in the areas of email management and deployment, analytics, marketing, advertising, market research, sweepstakes and contest administration, identity and professional credential validation, content distribution, customer service, payment fulfillment, event logistics, website maintenance and data storage and security. We may provide these service providers with personal information about users of our Services so that they can fulfill their responsibilities to us, however, we do require that they agree to limit their use of this personal information to the fulfillment of these responsibilities.

Advertising and Sponsored Programs. We may provide your personal information to third party sponsors of advertisements and Sponsored Programs, subject to applicable law. Specifically, when you are exposed to an advertisement through the Services, whether on one of our websites or apps, in an email or through some other means, or when you engage in a Sponsored Program, e.g., access a sponsored information resource, open one of our sponsored emails, MD Newsline may provide your personal information, such as your name and specialty (but not your email or postal address) to the applicable sponsor and/or its agents on the sponsor’s behalf.

We may also provide such third parties with details about your engagement with the advertisement or Sponsored Program (e.g., whether you viewed or otherwise interacted with certain content), your answers to any questions contained in the Sponsored Program and information about you that we have received from third parties. Additionally, when you register as a member of the MD Newsline Network, we may provide your personal information (but not your email or postal address) to potential sponsors of advertisements and Sponsored Programs that may be offered or provided to you through the Services, subject to applicable law. Except as otherwise provided by applicable law, we are not responsible for how these third parties use your information.

All advertisements and Sponsored Programs (including any links to Sponsored Programs) made available within the MD Newsline Network, including through emails, will be identified to you by the label Advertisement, Information from Industry, Sponsored, MD Newsline or some similar designation indicating that the content, which may pertain to a particular medical condition, therapy, product or service, has been selected by a third-party sponsor.

Member Profiles. Subject to applicable law, MD Newsline may provide Member Profiles, and portions thereof, (excluding contact information and information about your participation in specific named CME and CE activities) to third parties, including our advertising customers, which these third parties may use for their business purposes including marketing.

Market Research. If you receive remuneration for participating in a market research program offered through our Services, we may provide your personal information to our payment fulfillment vendor so that it can process and deliver your payment to you and for its recordkeeping and regulatory compliance purposes, and also to the program sponsor (or the market research company acting on its behalf) for its recordkeeping and regulatory compliance purposes. If you choose to access a survey that is conducted by a third party market research company, we may identify you to this company. Sometimes market research companies send us lists of individuals they wish to reach with particular market research opportunities and we may inform these companies which of these individuals are members of the MD Newsline Network so that they can manage their recruitment needs accordingly.

Also, certain market research opportunities require us or the market research company to contact you directly to conduct the survey, including by telephone. We will inform you in the research invitation if you will be required to provide additional contact information, e.g., phone number, to participate so that you can decide at that time if you wish to proceed with the opportunity. We do not disclose your survey responses to the sponsor in a manner that identifies you.

Adverse Event Reporting. If you provide us information about an adverse event regarding a pharmaceutical product or medical device, we may be required to report such information along with your contact information to the manufacturer as required for it to fulfill its reporting obligations to the applicable regulatory authority. If you do not want this information reported to the applicable manufacturer and regulatory authority, then do not provide us with adverse event information.

Consent. We may disclose your personal information to a third party in a manner not addressed by this Privacy Policy subject to your consent at such time.

Aggregated Information. We may provide aggregated information about users of our Services to third parties as we deem appropriate in our sole discretion. For example, MD Newsline may tell a customer what percentage of registered users of the MD Newsline Network reside in a particular geographical area or specialize in a particular clinical area, or what percentage of participants in a market research survey selected a particular response to a survey question.

Social Widgets. We may include social widgets within our websites and apps which enable you to interact with the associated social media services, e.g., to share an article. These widgets may collect browsing data which may be received by the third party that provided the widget, and are controlled by these third parties. You may be able to manage your privacy preferences directly with the applicable social network platform.

Legal Requirements. We may release personal information when we believe release (i) is required to comply with valid legal requirements such as a law, regulation, search warrant, subpoena or court order and to meet national security or law enforcement requirements; or (ii) is reasonable in response to a physical threat to you or others, to protect property or defend or assert legal rights of us or others.

Security of Information
We have implemented appropriate technical and organizational security measures to protect the personal information that we have under our control from unauthorized access, use, disclosure and accidental loss. When you enter personal information, we encrypt the transmission of that information or use SSL connections (Secure Socket Layer) technology. You are solely responsible for maintaining the security and confidentiality of your account username and password if we decide to implement membership profile. Unfortunately, no method of transmission over the internet or method of electronic storage is completely secure. Therefore, while we strive to protect your personal information, we cannot guarantee its absolute security.

Choice and Control
You may contact us and request that your subscriber information be updated or deleted. Note that if we delete your subscription, we may maintain certain de-identified information about you for internal business purposes including research, analytics and reporting.

Cookies. Most browser software can be set to reject all cookies, including third party cookies, however, if you choose to reject our cookies, your ability to access and use the Services will be limited.

You can learn more about managing your preferences for ads online, particularly for many third-party advertising networks, through resources made available by the Digital Advertising Alliance or the Network Advertising Initiative. Note that if you delete cookies, use a different device, or change web browsers, you may need to opt out again.

Mobile Opt-out. You may control interest-based advertising on your mobile device by enabling the “Limit Ad Tracking” setting in your iOS device’s settings or “Opt out of Ads Personalization” in your Android device’s settings. This will not prevent you from seeing advertisements, but will limit the use of device advertising identifiers to personalize ads based on your interests. You also may disable the transmission of precise location information through your device settings.

Email Communications. If you no longer wish to receive a particular type of email communication from us, you may unsubscribe by clicking the “unsubscribe” link located at the bottom of the email and following the instructions. Also, you may manage your newsletter subscriptions within the newsletter subscriptions area within your account settings. Note that certain email communications that we send to members are service-related and as long as you are a member of the MD Newsline Network, you may not unsubscribe from such emails. Also, if you have provided us more than one email address, we may continue to contact you using the other email address not associated with the emails from which you have unsubscribed, until you unsubscribe from emails sent to that other address.

Push Notifications. We may send you push notifications from time-to-time to notify you of upcoming events or promotions we think may be relevant to you. If you no longer wish to receive these types of notifications, you may turn them off at the device level.

California Residents. Section 1798.83 of the California Civil Code requires select businesses to disclose policies relating to the sharing of certain categories of your personal information with third parties. If you reside in California and have provided your personal information to us, you may request information about our disclosures of certain categories of personal information to third parties for direct marketing purposes in the preceding calendar year. You can submit such request by sending an email to or by writing to the MD Newsline Office of Privacy at the address provided at the end of this Privacy Policy.

Note to Users Outside of the United States
MD Newsline, Minority Medicine, and Pyramid Solutions & Marketing Inc are located in the United States, as is a majority of the MD Newsline Network’s technical infrastructure including its data hosting facilities. In order to provide the Services to you, we likely will transfer your personal information outside of your country of residence including to the United States where it will be stored and processed in accordance with this Privacy Policy. We may transfer your information outside the United States to service providers with operations in other countries. By using the Services, you consent to such collection, storage and processing in the United States and elsewhere, though the United States and other jurisdictions may not afford the same level of data protection as considered adequate in your own country. We will take reasonable steps to protect your personal information. Note that your personal information may be available to the United States government or its agencies under legal process made in the United States.

MD Newsline is responsible for the processing of personal information it receives, and subsequently transfers to a third party acting as an agent on its behalf.  In certain situations, we may be required to disclose personal data in response to lawful requests by public authorities, including to meet national security or law enforcement requirements. If you have an unresolved privacy or data use concern that we have not addressed satisfactorily, please contact our U.S.-based third party dispute resolution provider (free of charge).

Children’s Privacy
The MD Newsline Network and the Services are designed and intended for use by adults, and are not intended for nor designed to be used by children under the age of 18. We do not collect personal information from any person we know is under the age of 18.

DMD Healthcare Communications NetworkSM Privacy Statement
This digital service participates in the DMD Healthcare Communication NetworkSM (the “Network”), and as such has implemented various technologies for universal registration/login among all Network member websites. These technologies are managed by DMD Marketing Corp. (“DMD”), and may involve the collection, receipt, and sharing of information with DMD, its clients and other Network members. If you would like to understand how this digital service’s participation in the Network affects your privacy, please click here: http://usersupport.dmdconnects.com/PrivacyPolicy.htm

Privacy Policy Changes
We reserve the right to modify this Privacy Policy at any time and any changes will be effective upon posting of the modified Privacy Policy unless we advise otherwise. If we make any material changes to this Privacy Policy we will notify you by email (sent to the email address included in your account profile) and/or by means of a notice on our websites before the change becoming effective. We encourage you to periodically review this Privacy Policy for the latest information on our privacy practices. By continuing to use the Services after changes are made to this Privacy Policy, you agree to such changes.

Contacting Us
If you have general questions about your account or the Services, contact Customer Support at info@MDNewsline.com. For questions about this Privacy Policy or how your personal information may be used when you use the Services, please contact our Privacy Office by email at info@MDNewsline.com.

MD Newsline’s users may contact our Data Protection team at info@MDNewsline.com

Please note that if you contact us to assist you, we may need to verify your identity before fulfilling your request.

Updated August 3, 2020