Notice for Investigators and Other Site Staff Participating in AbbVie Research
Effective date: July 1, 2024
Introduction
AbbVie Corporation, with its registered address at 8401 Trans-Canada Highway, Saint-Laurent, Quebec, Canada H4S 1Z1, is a biopharma company which is part of a global group of companies focused on developing leading treatments and innovations worldwide (hereinafter collectively referred to as “AbbVie” or “we”). At AbbVie, we take great care in processing personal data in compliance with applicable laws. We only collect and use the information necessary to achieve the purposes described below. Within the meaning of applicable data protection law, AbbVie Corporation is the data controller.
Personal data that we collect about you and why
In anticipation and as part of your participation in AbbVie’s research and development activities, we may collect personal data about you. AbbVie may collect such personal data from a variety of sources, including directly from you (e.g., in your CVs, resumes or other documents or forms provided by you to AbbVie) and indirectly (e.g., from the research center where you work or conduct/support research activities, or from publicly available sources, including those available online which may include websites such as www.clinicaltrials.gov, www.clinicaltrialsregister.eu, and the United States FDA’s Debarment and Disqualified and Restricted Lists for clinical investigators).
AbbVie may collect and use some or all of the following categories of personal data:
• personal details, such as your name, age, gender and contact details;
• professional details, such as your place of practice, job title, the medical field in which you are active, your professional qualifications and scientific activities (such as previous research experience, and participation in past or pending research studies with AbbVie and other companies), publication of academic or scientific research and articles, and membership in associations and boards;
• financial details, such as payment-related information, including tax identification number and amounts of payments we make to you; and
• details of interactions with us, such as what kind of meetings we have held, topics discussed, your knowledge of and questions you have had on our research activities and products.
Your personal data will be processed by AbbVie for the following purposes:
• managing our relationship with you, including planning, organizing and reviewing the research we perform with you and contacting you;
• helping ensure that we provide you with information about AbbVie’s planned research activities that is relevant given your expertise, interests and preferences;
• complying with applicable laws and regulations (e.g., in connection with pharmacovigilance, public registration of the research in which you participate on web sites designed for this purpose, such as www.clinicaltrials.gov or www.clinicaltrialsregister.eu, transparency reporting, and completing research reports).
You are not required by law or by a contract to provide your personal data to AbbVie. However, in order to consider you for participation in AbbVie’s research studies and maintain our relationship with you, you consent to the processing of your personal data.
Sharing your personal data
AbbVie may share your personal data with others, from time to time, in connection with the purposes described in this notice. In particular, we may make your personal data available to:
• all entities within the AbbVie group, including AbbVie Inc. located in the United States as our parent company (e.g., in the case of shared regional or global databases), and companies and individuals with whom we may partner in connection with proposed or actual research initiatives;
• third party companies that supply goods or services to AbbVie, such as legal counsel, auditors, IT service suppliers, and service providers;
• ethics committees and government authorities located both in your home country and in other countries, including in the United States, where AbbVie conducts its research activities; 1 Document Name: PRIVACY NOTICE/ROW Investigator & Other Site Staff Version 1 01MAR2019
• other third parties pursuant to a court order, to protect the interests of AbbVie, or where otherwise required by law or legal process; and
• actual or prospective purchasers of AbbVie businesses in the event of a sale, merger, or acquisition.
Sharing your personal data as described above may involve transferring it outside of Quebec and to countries outside of your home country, whose data protection and privacy laws may not be equivalent to, or as protective as, those that exist in your home country. To ensure an adequate level of data protection is provided, personal data transferred within the AbbVie group of companies, including to AbbVie Inc. in the United States, is done under internal privacy agreements.
Where AbbVie uses service providers or collaborates with its research partners that have access to personal data, it requires such service providers and research partners to protect your data and to process your personal data in accordance with this data protection notice and for no other purpose. Any transfers of personal data to third parties outside your home country will be done in compliance with the international data transfer restrictions that apply.
Securing and retaining your personal data
AbbVie will take appropriate technical and organizational security measures to protect your personal data consistent with applicable privacy and data security laws. When AbbVie retains a third-party service provider to process personal data, that provider will be carefully selected and required to use appropriate measures to protect the confidentiality and security of personal data. AbbVie retains your personal data only for as long as we continue to collaborate with you on research related matters, unless a longer retention period is required or permitted by Good Clinical Practices (GCP) and research related laws and regulations.
Your rights
You may contact AbbVie to request access to, rectify, ask for a copy of, cease dissemination of, and reindex or de-index Personal Data relating to you. You may also have the right not to be subject to decisions based solely on automated processing, to transmit your Personal Data to another controller, to withdraw your consent at any time if applicable, (this will not affect the lawfulness of previous data-processing activities), and object to any use of your Personal Data. To exercise your rights, contact AbbVie by submitting your privacy inquiry at abbvie.com/privacy-inquiry.html. Under local law, you may also be entitled to lodge an anonymous complaint about the processing of your Personal Data with your local data protection authority.