ABBOTT AND PRIVACY

"Personal Information" is information that identifies you as an individual or can be used to identify you. Examples of personal information include your name, address and contact information.

Abbott collects personal information online and offline in a few different ways:

• Information That You Provide. We may collect personal information and other information that you provide when you use our services, attend Abbott programs or events, participate in a clinical trial, and any other data that you may choose to submit or provide. With your permission, we may also collect data from another source like a device or social media account. Such information may include, but not be limited to, contact information (such as your name, postal address, e-mail address, telephone number, user ID and password), date of birth, professional credentials, experiences, activities, skills, preferences, hobbies and interests.
• Information From Public or Third Party Sources. We may collect data from public sources including, but not limited to, social media and other websites that enable social sharing. Personal information may also be available from government agencies, public or third party information sources, third party service providers, or business partners. We also may collect information from industry and patient groups and associations, or combine information we have collected from multiple sources.
• Information Collected From Devices You Use to Connect with Us or Use our Services. Abbott collects data through our websites and apps and automatically from devices you use to connect to our Services. For more information about this, please see our "Cookies and Other Tools" below.
• Information Collected When You Make A Purchase. When you make a purchase on our website, we will collect information to process, fulfill, and ship your order.
• Information Collected With Business Partners. We sometimes work with other organizations to provide you with our Services. When that happens, we require that information be protected.

If you choose to submit any personal information relating to other people, you represent that you have the authority to do so and permit us to use the information in accordance with this Policy.

Abbott may collect the following types of personal information.

• Contact Information and Preferences such as name, email address, mailing address, phone number, and emergency contact information
• Account Information such as any username, email and password that you may select in connection with establishing an account on our websites or mobile apps
• Biographical and Demographic Information such as date of birth, age, photo, gender, ethnicity, marital status, and sexual orientation. In certain circumstances, we may also collect information about parents and legal guardians
• Financial and Payment information such as information we need complete a transaction, like a credit card number. If you apply or participating in one of Abbott’s patient assistance programs, we may also collect information to verify your eligibility in the program
• Internet Activity such as your Internet Protocol ("IP") address, browsing history, your search history and information on your interaction with the Abbott Services and our advertisements
• Health Information relating to your health status including information related to your physical or mental health or conditions and diagnoses, genetic information, family medical history and medications an individual may take, (including the dosage, timing, and frequency) we collect in connection with managing clinical trials, conducting research, providing patient support programs, distributing and marketing our products, managing compassionate use and expanded access programs and tracking adverse event reports
• Other Personal Information collected online or offline to help us better identify and offer services and information that we believe may be of interest to you, or help us better understand your experience with our products
• Communications with Abbott, including interactions with us and contacts through social media channels

Abbott's research and clinical trials. Abbott also collects information when you participate in a clinical trial or other research Abbott conducts. This may involve collecting data from you, healthcare providers, contract research organization, and clinical trial investigators. When Abbott’s collects information to conduct research or clinical trials, we provide you with more information about how your personal information will be used.

If you are a healthcare professional, we may also collect:

• Professional credentials such as your educational and professional history, institutional and government affiliations, information included on a resume or curriculum vitae, education and work history (such as work experience, education and languages spoken)
• Interactions with Abbott including Information about the Abbott programs, products and activities with which you have engaged and details about our interactions with you, your prescribing of our products and the agreements you have executed with us, including remittance or other financial information
• Event and Participant Information collected in connection with Abbott hosted events or activities you attend or participate in
• Publicly-available Information Related to your Practice, such as license information, disciplinary history, prior litigation and regulatory proceedings, and other due diligence related information

How Abbott uses your information depends on how you interact with us and what services you use. For the most part, Abbott uses personal information to provide our products and services to you and make them better, to process your transactions, to communicate with you, for security and fraud prevention, and to comply with law. We may also use personal information for other purposes with notice or with your consent.

Generally we use personal information to:

• Provide and develop our products and services. Abbott collects information to provide our services, maintain our websites and apps, and better understand the interests of our customers and visitors who use our services. We may also use your information to customize your experience with Abbott such as recognizing you when you visit our websites, remembering your preferences, or showing you more relevant advertisements.
• Conduct research. We use your information to study, develop, and improve Abbott’s services, conduct research, and manage clinical trials. Our research may involve secondary and follow on research. If you wish to participate in one of these programs, we may use your information to determine your eligibility to participate in our programs, clinical trials, or other research activities.
• Process transactions. We collect payment information to process your transactions and deliver our products and services.
• Communicate with you. We use your information to respond to your inquiries from you. We may send you administrative communications regarding Abbott’s products or services, your purchases and transactions. We may also notify you about special promotions or offers that may be of interest to you and invite you to participate in surveys about our products or services.
• Security and fraud prevention. We may use personal information to monitor, detect and prevent fraud and improper or illegal activity and protect you, Abbott, other customers, and the public. We also use data to secure our online services including our network, websites and apps debug our online services.
• Comply with law. To comply with applicable law, comply with Abbott’s legal and regulatory obligations, and defend ourselves in litigation and investigations and to prosecute litigations.

Some of our applications and mobile-optimized sites may have location-based features. To deliver these features, we may collect and use location data provided by your mobile device. When you use such applications, you are asked consent to the collection and use of your mobile device location data for purposes of delivering these location-based features.

We may use personal information collected from any of the sources listed in the “How Does Abbott Collect personal information?” section of this policy for our internal business purposes, such as data analysis, audits, developing new products, enhancing our services, identifying usage trends and determining the effectiveness of our promotional campaigns.

We may aggregate, anonymize and/or de-identify data we collect about customers and site visitors and use it for any purpose, including product and service development and improvement activities.

Abbott may share your information within the Abbott family of companies. We may also share your information with our service provides, who act on our behalf, our partners and collaborators, and at your direction. Abbott does not sell personal information or transfer personal information to third parties to use for their own benefit.

Below are more details on who Abbott shares data with.

• Service providers. We may provide your personal information to our vendors, contractors, business and service partners, or other third parties. Examples of service providers include advertisers, payment processing companies, customer service and support providers, email, IT services and SMS vendors, web hosting and development companies and fulfillment companies. Abbott’s practice is to require its Service Providers to keep your personal information confidential and to use personal information only to perform functions for Abbott.
• Collaborators. Collaborators are partners or other organizations with which we jointly develop and/or promote our services.
• In connection with a merger, acquisition, or business transfer. If Abbott sells all or part of one of its product lines or divisions, your information may be transferred to the buyer.
• Government, regulatory and law enforcement agencies. Abbott reserves the right to disclose your information to respond to authorized information requests from government authorities, to respond to valid judicial requests, to address national security situations, to provide security and investigate potential fraud, or when otherwise required by applicable law. Abbott may also disclose your personal information as required by law to any competent law enforcement body, regulatory or government agency, court or other third party where we believe the disclosure is necessary or appropriate to comply with a regulatory requirement, judicial proceeding, court order, government request or legal process served on us, or to protect the safety, rights, or property of our customers, the public, Abbott or others, and to exercise, establish or defend Abbott's legal rights.

Abbott does not sell personal information or transfer personal information to third parties to use for their own benefit; however, we allow certain companies to place tracking technologies like cookies on our websites. Those companies receive information about your interaction with our websites that is associated with your browser or device and may use that data to serve you relevant ads on our websites or others. Except for this kind of sharing, we do not sell any of your information. For more information please see Cookies/Tracking Policy.

At Abbott's discretion, it may also disclose aggregated, anonymized or de-identified information that is not personally identifiable to third parties.

Your Privacy Rights and Choices

Abbott respects your decisions about your personal information. Depending on where you reside, you may have certain rights and choices regarding our processing of your personal information.

• Know the categories and/or specific pieces of personal information collected about you, including whether your personal information is sold or disclosed, and with whom your personal information was shared
• Access a copy of the personal information we retain about you
• Request deletion of your personal information
• Direct Abbott to correct your personal information

To help protect the security of your personal information, Abbott will verify your identity in connection with any requests. Also we take steps to ensure that only you or your authorized representative can exercise rights with respect to your information. If you are an authorized agent making a request, we may require and request additional information to protect the Personal information entrusted to Abbott, including information to verify that you are authorized to make that request.

There may be situations where we cannot grant your request, for example if you make a request and we cannot verify your identity, we will not be able to comply with the request. We may also be unable to comply with your request if we have a legal or regulatory obligation to keep your personal information, such as when you participate in scientific research. Other reasons your request may be denied are if it jeopardizes the privacy of others, or would be extremely impractical to honor.

Where we deny your request in whole or in part, we will take steps to inform you of the denial and provide an explanation of our actions and the reasons for the denial.

We will not restrict or deny you access to our services because of choices and requests you make in connection with your personal information. Please note, certain choices may affect our ability to deliver the Abbott services. For example, if you sign up to receive marketing communications by email, then ask Abbott to delete all of your information, we will be unable to send you marketing communications.

You may exercise any of your rights in relation to your personal information by contacting us using the details provided under the "How Can I Contact Abbott" section below.

Marketing

If you no longer wish to receive promotional marketing materials from us, you may opt out of receiving such materials. You may unsubscribe from receiving marketing or other commercial emails from Abbott by following the instructions included in the email. We will work to comply with your request as soon as we can.

However, even if you opt out of receiving such communications, we may need to continue to send you certain non-marketing communications (such as information about changes to our Privacy Policy or Terms of Use).

It is Abbott's practice to take steps to secure our Abbott services; however, the confidentiality of information transmitted over the Internet cannot be guaranteed. We urge you to exercise caution when transmitting personal information over the Internet, especially personal information related to your health. Abbott cannot guarantee that unauthorized third parties will not gain access to your information; therefore, when submitting personal information to Abbott websites or apps, you must weigh both the benefits and the risks. Abbott websites or apps may link to third-party websites that are not controlled by Abbott or subject to an Abbott privacy policy. You should check the privacy policies of such third-party websites before submitting personal information.

Children’s Information

Abbott does not knowingly collect or use any information from children (we define "children" as minors younger than 13). We do not knowingly allow children to order our products, communicate with us, or use any of our online services. If you are a parent or guardian and become aware that your child has provided us with information, please contact us using one of the methods specified below and we will work with you to address this issue.

Third Party Sites

We may provide links to websites and other third-party content that is not owned or operated by Abbott. The websites and third-party content to which we link may have separate privacy notices or policies. Abbott is not responsible for the privacy practices of these websites.

If you provide any personal information through a third-party site, your interaction and your personal information will be collected by, and controlled by the privacy policy of, that third party site. We recommend that you familiarize yourself with the privacy policies and practices of any such third parties, which are not governed by this privacy policy.

Cookies and Other Technologies

Abbott's online services, interactive applications, and advertisements may use cookies and other technologies such as web beacons. We use this information to better understand, customize and improve user experience with our websites, services and offerings as well as to manage our advertising. This information can make your use of our Abbott Services easier and more meaningful by allowing Abbott and our Service Providers to provide better service, customize sites based on consumer preferences, compile statistics, provide you with more relevant advertisements based on your interests, analyze trends and otherwise administer and improve our products and services. If we have collected your Personal information, we may associate this personal information with information gathered through the Tools.

Your web browser can be set to allow you to control whether you will accept cookies, reject cookies, or to notify you each time a cookie is sent to your browser. If your browser is set to reject cookies, websites that are cookie-enabled will not recognize you when you return to the website, and some website functionality may be lost. The Help section of your browser may tell you how to prevent your browser from accepting cookies.

You can also control Flash cookies which we may use on certain Abbott websites and apps from time to time by clicking here. Why? Because Flash cookies cannot be controlled through your browser settings. Choices you make are both browser and device-specific.

Here are some of the types of information collected when visiting Abbott Websites:

• Log data: When you use Abbott websites and apps, our servers automatically record information ("log data"), including information that your browser sends whenever you visit an website or app or your mobile app sends when you are using it. This log data may include your Internet Protocol address, the address of the webpages you visited that had Abbott features, browser type and settings, the date and time of your request, how you used websites and cookie data.
• Cookie data: Depending on how you are accessing Abbott’s online Services, we and our Service Providers may use "cookies" (a small text file sent by your computer each time you visit our sites, unique to your Abbott account or your browser) or similar technologies, to record log data. For more information see our cookie policy/tracking policy.
• Social media plugins and data. Social media plugins (e.g., the Facebook "Like" button, '"Share to Twitter"' button) to enable you to easily share information with others. The operator of the social plugin can place a cookie on your computer, enabling that operator to recognize individuals who have previously visited our websites. If you are logged into the social media website (e.g., Facebook, Twitter, Google+) while browsing on our Abbott Services, the social plugins allow that social media website to receive information that you have visited our Abbott Services. The social plugins also allow the social media website to share information about your activities on Abbott with other users of their social media website. Abbott does not control any of the content from the social plugins.
• Linked Accounts. If you choose to link your social media or Google account to Abbott, this allows us to obtain information from those accounts (such as your friends or contacts). The information we obtain from these services often depends on your settings or the applicable provider's privacy policies, so please check these policies before granting us access.
• Device information. We may also collect information about the device you are using to access our Abbott Services, including what type of device it is, what operating system you are using, device settings, unique device identifiers and crash data. To learn more about what information your device may make available to us, please also check the policies of your device manufacturer or software provider.

Interest Based Advertising

Abbott hopes to deliver to you advertising for products and services you need or want. Abbott, its vendors and partners, use common tracking tools, such as cookies, pixels, web beacons, and similar technologies, to automatically collect information about users for purposes of enhancing their online experience and delivering more meaningful advertisements. Like many companies, Abbott may also utilize third-party advertising vendors and other partners to collect this information.

Like many companies, we place advertisements where we think they will be most relevant to customers. One way we do so is by allowing network advertising companies with whom we work to place their own Tools when an individual visits Abbott websites and apps. This enables the network advertising company to recognize individuals who have previously visited Abbott websites and apps and to serve you ads based on your web browsing activity, purchases, interests and/or other information—a practice commonly referred to as interest-based advertising (“IBA”) or online behavioral advertising ("OBA").

These advertising companies may also use these types of technologies to recognize you across the devices you use, such as a mobile phone or a laptop, and serve you ads on websites you visit and applications you use.

Retargeting.

One way in which we deliver more meaningful advertisements is through a common form of online advertising known as "retargeting" or "remarketing." Retargeting works by serving ads on one site based on an individual’s online activities on a different, unrelated site. For example, if you look at Similac® products on an Abbott website, you may later see an advertisement for Similac® products when you visit third-party sites. To do this, Abbott or its advertising vendors may use a device ID, cookie, pixel, web beacon or similar technology placed by Abbott or our third-party vendor when you visit Abbott websites or apps or third-party websites or apps.

Opting-Out of IBA, OBA and Retargeting Activities

As a participant of the Digital Advertising Alliance (DAA), we adhere to DAA’s Interest-Based Advertising principles by providing you enhanced notice, transparency and control of our digital marketing practices as stated at http://www.aboutads.info/principles/. Click here to opt-out of having your online behavior collected for advertising purposes and receiving behaviorally targeted advertisements from our advertising partners. Choices you make are both browser and device-specific. Also, certain versions of the iOS operating system permit you to "Limit Ad Tracking" in the system settings, and certain versions of the Android operating system allow you to "Opt-out of Interest-Based Ads" in the system settings. Options you select are browser and device specific.

Abbott Do Not Track Policy. Some browsers have Do Not Track ("DNT") features that allow you to tell a website not to track you. These features are not all uniform, and some browsers may not be set up to honor such requests. Abbott honors the AdChoice DNT signals. Options you select are browser and device specific. Please be aware that limiting the ability of websites to set cookies, however, may worsen your overall user experience, and in some cases the sites will not work properly without cookies, local storage and similar technologies.

Transfer of personal information Between Countries

Any information you provide to Abbott may be stored and processed, transferred between and accessed from the United States, where Abbott is headquartered, and other countries which may not guarantee the same level of protection of personal information as the one in which you reside. However, Abbott will handle your personal information in accordance with this privacy policy regardless of where your personal information is stored/accessed.

If you have questions about your information, please contact us by clicking on the "Contact Us" link on the website you are visiting or by e-mailing us at privacy@abbott.com. Alternatively, you may send a letter to the following address:

Abbott Laboratories
Attention: Privacy Office, Department EC10
100 Abbott Park Road
Abbott Park, IL 60064-6048

In all communications to Abbott, please include the email address used for registration (if applicable), the website address or the specific Abbott program to which you provided personal information (e.g. Abbott.com, Similac.com, etc.) and a detailed explanation of your request. We will do our best to respond to all reasonable requests in a timely manner.

Abbott reserves the right to amend this Privacy Policy at any time. If Abbott changes its privacy practices, a new Privacy Policy will reflect those changes and the effective date of the revised Privacy Policy will be set forth in this paragraph.