The following Terms of Use & Privacy Policy govern the relationship between Biotech Strategy Blog (BSB) and its users or visitors.  By using the Biotech Strategy Blog site, accessing content, making a comment or purchasing Premium Content you explicitly agree to the following terms and conditions, which may be updated or changed without notice. They should be read carefully. Your agreement to accept them by using this site forms a contract.

Effective October 27, 2023 we have put a log at the end of this page that allows users to more easily see the updates to our Terms as they are implemented. We hope this provides greater transparency as to what has changed over time.

In the event that you do not wish to accept the following terms and conditions you should not access or use this website or purchase Premium Content.

Guidance on the Terms of Use for those Unemployed/Between Jobs, Consultants (including those involved with clinical development and marketing strategy), Service Providers (including CROs), Agency, IR, PR, Communications (including those within biotech/pharma corp comms or media relations), CI, Medical Education & Media Professionals (including journalists and writers) is included at the bottom of this page.

If you have any questions about the Terms of Use or our Privacy Policy, please contact us.

Blog Copyright & Use of Content

  • Copyright is Reserved. Copyright on all blog posts is reserved, and no information may be displayed, copied, reproduced, transmitted, distributed or used in derivative works without the expression permission of the Publisher, except as permitted by law. Unless a license to share content is purchased, you are not permitted to share a copy of any post by any means. This includes sending a PDF by email to colleagues, printing out a post and sharing with others, or uploading content to a shared server or portal. Please do not put is in the uncomfortable of having to contact you, or your company legal counsel about unauthorized sharing which is an infringement of our copyright.
  • No Copying, Sharing or Distributing of any Post is Permitted. You may not copy, reproduce, republish, disassemble, decompile, reverse engineer, download, post, broadcast, transmit, display or make content available to the public or within any company or organization, this including hosting or sharing content on a private server or shared drive, or otherwise use Biotech Strategy Blog content in any way that infringes on our copyright. You also agree not to alter or create a derivative work from any Biotech Strategy Blog content.
  • No Use of BSB Content by Artificial Intelligence technology or machine learning or data mining tools or models. You are prohibited from data mining or applying any machine learning tools or models to, or train machine learning tools or models, or use any other artificial intelligence technology or the application of such tools to the Biotech Strategy Blog website and Biotech Strategy Blog Content, however derived or accessed.
  • No Derivative Works can be generated using Artificial Intelligence (AI). You are prohibited from using artificial intelligence tools or models for the purposes of generating text, images or any other material, output or derivative works based on or using Biotech Strategy Blog Content, whether or not in the same or similar style as Biotech Strategy Blog Content.
  • Please note even if you buy a professional license (Titanium, Platinum, Iridium, Rhodium etc) no content can be reproduced, copied, distributed, shared or any derivative work created with those who are not designated users (i.e. non-subscribers or those who have their own login ID as a designated user), unless a license to share content has been obtained. This includes copies of any post that may relate to the designated user’s company or organization.  There is no automatic right to share content with the purchase of any license; payment of an additional fee is required or access must be purchased for additional users. Any pattern of BSB usage which is not typical of other users or raises concerns or red flags as to how or where our content is being used, whether such concerns are justified or not, may at our sole discretion lead to suspension of access without notice, termination of access without refund or a denial of any renewal. We do look carefully at BSB usage by those who only purchase a single user license and reserve the right to prospectively or retrospectively require the purchase of a multi-user license which covers all those in a team, group or company who may directly or indirectly be exposed to BSB content. We may also as a condition of access to BSB and at our sole discretion require someone in a leadership position to purchase a multi-user license that covers their group, team, reports, colleagues or company.
  • All those employed by for-profit organizations, including those working in the pharma, biotech, finance and related industries are required to purchase a titanium, platinum, iridium or rhodium license if they wish to read BSB. We do offer multi-user licenses (and the more users, the greater the discount offered). We do reserve the right to modify/adjust retrospectively, without refund, the terms of any license made at the discounted “Gold” academic/non-profit rate where in our sole discretion we think a titanium level level or equivalent license is required. If someone purchases at the gold “academic/non-profit” rate, they have the burden to show that they are eligible and qualify for this rate.  
  • To qualify for the discounted Gold license rate, the non-profit, academia setting has to be where your main daily job is. If you are an MD, whose primary job is elsewhere e.g. in industry/finance, even if you do a clinic somewhere, as many in industry do, then this does not qualify you for the gold rate, even if you use a VA, hospital or university email address when you sign up to BSB. Prior purchases of a gold level license that was formerly a personal/individual rate, including any renewal at this rate, does not automatically grant the right to purchase again at this discounted rate or that we have waived any right to make a retroactive modification of access terms in the event we deem a titanium level license or corporate license is required or more appropriate based on the company or organization you work for. If any doubt as to what level of license is appropriate or for a quote for a license that would best your needs, please contact us.
  • No Use of Images. You agree not to download, display or use images that are published or hosted on Biotech Strategy Blog. You agree not to link directly to any image hosted on the server of this site e.g. by using html based links, commonly known as “inline links”, to cause an image hosted by Biotech Strategy Blog to be displayed on another web site.
  • No Internet Search Competition. You agree not to link to Biotech Strategy Blog or any of its content, irrespective of how the link is generated, in a way that may divert web traffic (whether intentional or not), and are not permitted to use the blog name, title of any posts or any content in a way that may lead any internet search services such as google to generate a link to another web site when this content or the blog is searched for.
  • No Framing is Permitted. You agree not to frame Biotech Strategy Blog within another web site or provide links to framed content. Displaying Biotech Strategy Blog on any other web site in a way that “frames” or surrounds a page with third-party content, materials or branding is expressly prohibited without an agreement in writing. This no-framing policy will be enforced to the fullest extent provided by copyright, trademark and contract law.
  • No liability for Errors or Omissions. You agree that the Biotech Strategy Blog, the author of any blog posts, the current blog Publisher and prior blog Publisher(s) will not be liable, under any circumstances and in any way, for any errors or omissions, loss or damage of any kind incurred as a result of use of any content posted on this site.
  • Fair Use Policy. Access to Biotech Strategy Blog (BSB) is subject to a fair use policy. We do track user access to BSB and reserve the right to terminate access without refund if we detect a pattern of activity that in our determination is not typical as compared to other similar users. While we appreciate people do want to access the library of back content, we may terminate access if we detect a pattern of activity that suggests BSB is being systematically data mined or that content or access may be being shared or that there is a risk of sharing, irrespective of whether this is actually taking place, e.g. the same post is accessed on multiple occasions from different IP addresses. In the event we decide to terminate access, we reserve the right to offer no refund or a limited refund. In no circumstances will a refund be made if our Terms of Use have been violated. All credit card processing fees that we may have incurred are non-refundable, and any refund we may make will be at our sole discretion and will not be calculated pro-rata based on time left on the license, but will take into account the amount and extent of BSB content that has already been accessed and the reason behind the termination. It is highly unlikely that any discretionary refund will be offered where multiple posts have already been accessed. Should access be terminated, permission will be required to purchase BSB access again.
  • DMCA Copyright Complaints. The Biotech Strategy Blog respects the intellectual property of others and requires that our users do the same.  In the event that you believe that your work has been copied or your intellectual property rights have been infringed, you should send the notice required by the DMCA to the designated DMCA agent: Pieter Droppert via email: pieter AT biotechstrategyblog DOT com.

Premium Content & Payments

  • Payment is required for Premium Content. Biotech Strategy Blog has implemented a paywall that restricts some content (“Premium Content”) to those who have paid a fee for access. Payment will only be accepted via the payment options indicated. Biotech Strategy Blog and it’s Publisher, Blue Ice Publishing LLC does not have access to any financial information (such as credit card details) and processes all payments through PCI compliant third party payment processors acting as agents. Currently we use Stripe to process credit card payments made through the website or where we manually generate a custom invoice. At our discretion we may accept payment for multi-user corporate licenses direct to our US company bank account. We reserve the right to require payment of bank transfer fees, payment processing or credit card transaction fees associated with any invoice. Any costs will be advised prior to purchase at the time of invoice generation.
  • Rates for access to premium content may change without notice. Licenses are for fixed periods of time e.g. 12 months etc and do not automatically renew and will terminate at the end of the fixed period of time purchased, at which time subscribers who wish to renew will have to do so at the prevailing rate.
  • Not all Premium Content may be available to all designated users. We may limit access to certain categories of posts such as expert interviews, immuno-oncology posts, conference coverage or any of our back library of Premium Content depending on the level of access purchased.
  • Premium content license fees are non-refundable once payment has been made. No refund will be provided in the event that the content does not meet your needs or you do not for any reason use it or access BSB for a period of time.
  • We may, at our sole discretion, refund any purchase made if we decline access, the wrong level of license is purchased or our permission has not be sought prior to purchase as is required if you work in consulting, media, service companies, communications/PR or medical education. If you have previously had BSB access declined or refunded for any reason then our permission is required before you can purchase again. If you had BSB access terminated for violating our terms of use, then this is a permanent ban and you cannot purchase again when you move to a new company. In the event any refund is made, any non-refundable fees that we incur including those levied by banks or credit card payment processors will be deducted from any refund.  If any posts have been read before access is terminated/refunded, we will also deduct from any refund a $1500 fee for each post read/accessed. The fees will be be deducted from any refund and are intended to avoid the situation where someone who should not have access, obtains access through our automated payment system and is then able to read our content before we can revoke this access. Should the fees for posts read exceed the amount paid, then no refund will be due. In other words you can’t purchase and quickly obtain all the content you are interested and then obtain a full refund in the event we decline access. We expect people to be ethical and professional and not to try and game the system or find a way around our access policies. If in doubt about whether you have the right to purchase access to BSB you should always contact us first to discuss before making any purchase.
  • We may offer the right to upgrade to a higher level of access for an additional fee e.g. if you purchase a silver trial level license for a quarter and wish to upgrade to an annual license that provides access to our back library of content. In no event will any refund be made if a gold level license is purchased when in our sole discretion we consider a titanium level license to be appropriate and the the offer to upgrade to this is declined.
  • No refund will be provided for the unexpired portion of any license that is cancelled or for any period when the license is not used or for any time remaining on a subscription or license or paid for access in the event we cease to operate a paywall, cease publication or go out of business.
  • Biotech Strategy Blog and its Publisher, Blue Ice Publishing LLC reserves the right, at its sole discretion, to refuse to accept any new subscriber or licensee or to decline the renewal of any subscription or license. We may also require the purchase of access for a minimum number of designated users or access by all potential readers in a team, group or company.
  • You are Responsible for Paying any Sales, Use Tax, GST or VAT. We do not collect any sales, use, value added tax or goods and service tax on behalf of any jurisdiction when Premium Content is purchased. No sales or use tax is collected for any state in the United States. We are not registered for and don’t collect value added tax (VAT) for any European Country and consequently are unable to issue a VAT Invoice. We are not registered for Australian Goods and Service Tax (GST) and do not collect and remit this.
  • All payments made to Biotech Strategy Blog, its Publisher, Blue Ice Publishing LLC and their agents, and former agents are net of any applicable sales, use or value added tax.
  • Irrespective of how payment is made or processed or the laws, rules and regulations that apply where you live or use our content, the purchaser of Premium Content will be solely responsible for determining the amount of any sales, use, value added tax (VAT) or goods and service tax (GST) that may be due on their purchase(s), and for reporting any tax liability and making payment, including any related penalties or interest to the relevant tax authority.
  • In the event that you do not make payment of any required sales or use tax, you agree to indemnify and hold harmless the Biotech Strategy Blog, its Agents, Former Agents, Representatives, Publisher and former Publisher(s) for the payment of any sales, use, VAT, GST, taxes, penalties, interest, attorney fees or expenses that may be incurred in the reporting, collection or payment.
  • Electronic Bank Payment Required. A US company or organisation can pay for a corporate multi-user license for 5 or more users, by electronic payment (ACH or wire transfer) to our US company bank account. We do not accept checks for any purchase, and any check sent will not be cashed, nor will mailing a check be considered payment of any invoice. It is safer, more convenient and cost-effective to do electronic transfers. Also we travel extensively so are not around to collect and process check payments, even if we wanted to. Upon request, for purchase of a multi-user license for 5 or more users we can supply an invoice with our company banking information, ABA routing number and bank information. All bank payments must be made direct from the company and not via any third party procurement or payment processing vendor. At our sole discretion we can provide SWIFT codes for international wire transfers but all payments must be in USD. We reserve the right to charge an invoice fee and/or fee to cover bank transfer charges. Individuals users and those purchasing a three or four user multi-user license are required to purchase by credit card. Effective August 2021, we will no longer generate invoices to companies or set up a vendor account with a company for purchases of 3 or 4 person multi-user licenses due to the disproportionate time and friction involved with working through procurement, PO # generation, verification of bank information and facilitating payment with accounts payable. Upon purchasing an “iridium” level three or four named user license by credit card, you will receive an email from Stripe confirming payment. We expect this will be sufficient for people to expense this purchase.
  • No Checks Payments are Accepted. Any attempt to pay by check will be refused. We will not consider any check payment as being a valid payment of any invoice, and no access or renewal will be granted in respect of any check payment that may be made. Any checks that we may receive will be destroyed and wlll not be cashed. Any company or organisation that sends a check is responsible for any fees or costs associated with cancelling the check, requesting a stop-payment with their bank and reiussing payment electronically. The only valid payment we accept is electronic payment by credit card or electronic bank transfer via ACH or wire transfer to our US company bank account. We will not be responsible for lost or non-delivered checks or checks that may be sent to a former address. Any company that chooses to send a check assumes all risks and liabilities associated with the potential for non-delivery of the check and the potential for fraudulent cashing should it not be received by us and/or is cashed by a third party. Please do not send a check or attempt to send a check – you assume all liability and risk associated with this, we will not cash it or accept it as valid payment – all it does it create extra friction and delay your access to BSB.
  • We will not register for Supplier Portals or Third Party Payment Processing Services. Please note we will not sign up, register or set up an account with any procurement/supplier management system, accounting platform, cloud based service or equivalent in order to receive payment from a company, irrespective of whether this is operated by the company itself or is a third party cloud based or software as a service (Saas) or enterprise resource planning (ERP) application. While we appreciate the convenience that such services and applications may offer when it comes to supplier management and payment processing, we do not wish to accept the Terms and Conditions of working through them, nor do we wish to have our data and information stored or/used by third party companies. Any request to sign up, register or provide detailed information to them will be declined. Should a company not be able to pay us direct without requiring that we use such a service or platform, they will be offered the opportunity to pay by credit card subject to passing through of the credit card processing fee which varies as to whether it is a US or non-US credit card. If this is not acceptable, then regretably we will simply not be able to do business with that company or organisation and any invoice will be cancelled and any quote or proposal withdrawn. Please note our Terms of Use exclusively apply to any purchase and compliance with our Terms over-rides any company policy that may require us to register and be paid through a specific software application, supplier portal or equivalent.
  • No banking or company information will be verified by Telephone. Due to the availability of Artificial Intelligence (AI) software that can easily clone or replicate anyone’s voice, and the potential this generates for fraud, we will NOT undertake any phone verification of our business or banking information to anyone, irrespective of whether this is an accounting or security policy of any entity, company, university or organisation that wishes to do business with us. In case of any conflict, the Biotech Strategy Blog Terms shall apply, and the requirement for any voice-based verification of information shall be waived, and to the extent necessary, a reasonable, alternative, secure form of non-voiced based verification or authorization shall be provided at the cost of the party requesting it. We do not provide payment authorizations by phone and no phone-based verification of our banking or company information should be relied upon.
  • Bank Fees. We reserve the right to charge the cost for any incoming wire transfer fee that our bank may levy, but typically ACH payments in the United States incur no additional fees. Payments from international based companies or organisations must be made in US dollars via a US bank, and any en-route banking charges or international wire fees are the responsibility of the paying party. Care should be taken to ensure that the amount transferred will cover the amount invoiced along with any en-route banking fees or charges that may be deducted before payment reaches our bank. We reserve the right to charge for any bank fees we may incur upon receipt of the international transfer.
  • No Third Party Payment. All bank payments must be made from the company or organisation in whose name the corporate license is held. We will not accept payments by bank transfer or credit card from third parties on behalf of another or from a different entity to the one holding the corporate license, with the exception of an affiliate or subsidiary of a multi-national company. This means, for example, that an agency cannot purchase BSB access on behalf of a client nor will we accept payment from any procurement agency.
  • No Vendor / Supplier Relationship unless specifically agreed to. No payment from a company or organisation to our company bank account establishes a vendor, supplier or independent contractor relationship. The Biotech Strategy Blog Terms of Use & Privacy Policy, exclusively apply to all purchases, and by paying any invoice, the company or organisation making payment explicitly agrees and accepts them.
  • Credit Card Payments & Chargeback Policy. Payment is made to the publisher, Blue Ice Publishing LLC and not Biotech Strategy Blog, it may be noted on your credit card statement as “Blue Ice” or “Blue Ice Publishing.” In the event that you do not recognise any credit charge from us or wish to query the amount, we expect purchasers to contact us first. One subscriber thought they had bought a yearly subscription, but in fact had only purchased a quarter. A simple exchange of emails and copy of the purchase receipt resolved this. If you put any purchase into dispute with your credit card company without contacting us first, this causes us considerable inconvenience and our relationship will suffer as a result. The forcible removal or placing on hold of funds, known as a chargeback, can take months to resolve, even if the dispute is promptly withdrawn and the error or mistake readily acknowledged by the purchaser. Any company or person that initiates a chargeback without contacting us first may not be permitted to renew their subscription or purchase again. We reserve the right to charge any fees and costs we incur associated with the resolution of this. We may also suspend access to BSB premium content pending release of funds and/or repayment of the subscription payment by the purchaser’s credit card company. If for whatever reason the chargeback is not resolved in our favour or repayment is not forthcoming, we will terminate access to BSB premium content. Placing any purchase from us into dispute with your credit company should only be considered as a last resort, we expect to be able to amicably resolve any question or concern with subscribers by phone or email. Please contact us first.
  • Only an Individual, Single Designated User License to Premium Content. Purchasing access to BSB Premium Content only grants access to one named designated user. If you are a company or organization where multiple people may wish to have access to BSB Premium Content, a corporate multi-user license will be required and each person who requires access will need to be named and granted a login ID unique to them. Please note, all users in a multi-user license must be employees of the company or an affiliate and have a company email address. You cannot give access to non-employees or anyone external to the company, such as consultants, PR agency etc as part of your group license. If you would like to discuss the pricing and availability of a multi-user or corporate/organization license, please contact us.
  • Anyone who shares access to BSB Premium Content with others or who share copies of Premium Content with non-subscribers without a valid license to do so may have their access terminated without notice or refund, and may have their renewal declined and/or have their company banned from purchasing future access. We do monitor access BSB usage and activity. Please don’t put us in the uncomfortable position of writing to you about this or terminating your access, we do expect the professionals who read our content to be ethical and respect our business model.
  • Renewal Terms may require purchase of access for a minimum number of users or the purchase of a multi-user license comparable to what was purchased previously.  Purchase of individual access through the BSB website is not permitted, without permission, if you have previously read BSB as part of a multi-user license and are at the same company. A company cannot downgrade from a multi-user license, even if expired, to a single user license without permission. We reserve the right to modify the renewal terms for any user and reserve the right to decline the renewal or purchase of any license at our sole discretion. We also reserve the right to require a minimum number of users as a condition of access to BSB, especially for those in leadership positions or those in a team or group where content or insights from BSB may be shared directly or indirectly or where a prior multi-user license has been purchased. If a company has had a prior multi-user license, then we typically expect renewal or purchase of a license for a similar or greater number of users unless there has been an acceptable change in circumstances. We reserve the right to decline any renewal or new purchase where the numbers of users is reduced from any prior license. We don’t expect to see someone who has had access to BSB as part of a multi-user license suddenly purchase individual access while at the same company. You would need to contact us first for permission to purchase only a single user license in light of the prior multi-user license. In those circumstances, failure to contact us first, would not only raise a red flag, but may result in our declining any future access to BSB. We reserve the right to decline any such purchase and any refund made will be less any non-refundable credit card fees. If you are a prior BSB user then you know how to reach us and we’re more than happy to engage and discuss renewal options.
  • License to Share. We may offer users, at our discretion, a license to share a number of posts within a company. The rate for this is negotiable and depends on the size of the company, number of posts and frequency of sharing. No sharing is permitted without a current license to do so and the payment of the appropriate fee. All sharing licenses are subject to audit and typically require monitoring and tracking to ensure compliance with the terms of the license.
  • Permission to Share a Reprint or Post on the Web. We may offer, at our discretion, permission to share a post internally with those who are not named designated users or the right to purchase a license for one-off access. The rate for this is negotiable and depends on the company size, amount of content to be shared and likely extent of its distribution. The right to share any of our content internally or post on any website requires our expression permission. All licenses are for a defined period of time, usually one year, and any use beyond this time requires license renewal and additional payment. In all cases copyright is retained by the Publisher of Biotech Strategy Blog, and in the cases of any web posting, full attribution and a link to the original article is required. Content posted on any website without our permission is an infringement of our copyright and violation of our Terms of Use, and will result in a takedown request and may also result in a request for payment of a retrospective license fee and/or the termination of any company access to BSB content. No content can shared, distributed or posted on any web site without our express permission in writing and the purchase of a license to do this.
  • Cookies may be used. Biotech Strategy Blog and its partners may use cookies that sit on your computer to deliver a personalized service. These cookies may remember and store information on how you use the blog. By subscribing to Premium Content or accessing this site, you are consenting to the use of cookies.

Privacy Policy

  • Consent to Hold Limited Personal Information. By making paying either through a third party payment processor such as Stripe or Paypal or direct to our company bank account, you give consent to hold personal and financial information necessary to process payment and/or manage your subscription access. You should consult the Stripe and Paypal privacy policies if you have any questions about how they store and use information and contact them if wish to have this information removed after purchase.
  • The Publisher of BSB does collect and store limited personal information such as name, email and purchase history in order to manage your account.
  • By purchasing BSB Premium Content, whether done individually or by a company purchasing a corporate multi-user license, as a condition of access you give your express consent for limited personal information to be stored and used for account management. Companies with multi-user licenses are responsible for providing any notice required under privacy laws and obtaining any consent necessary. Upon expiration of your term of use, unless promptly renewed, we will remove user login information from BSB, but we will retain a record off-line for accounting and business management purposes. You further agree that while you have access to BSB, you and/or your company will provide any written authorization confirming consent that be required by any data privacy law such as the Personal Information Protection Law (PIPL) in China, effective November 1, 2021. For users in China, access to BSB after November 1, 2021 means you and/or your company are giving express consent and permission for us to store and use limited personal information, including user name, email and company name/address for the purpose of managing access to our service. Should you not wish to give your consent for the use and storage of this limited information, please advise and we will terminate (without refund) your access and delete all your personal information.
  • We also use an email list managed by AWeber to communicate with current users and others who have signed up to receive emails about new posts and information that may be of interest. The data stored by AWeber includes name and email address. They also collect data on whether an email is read and which links are clicked. We may use analytical tools within AWeber to generate reports on email campaigns. You can unsubscribe from this email list at any time by clicking the unsubscribe link at the bottom of the email or we can delete you personally if you contact us.
  • Analytical information on how visitors or users access and reach our site, including location, IP address, referral method and/or search terms used, together with site usage data such as what pages or posts a user views may also be collected and stored. This data may be used by us for security and auditing purposes and by third party applications to inform us about our readership, traffic and site usage.
  • If you live or work in the European Union (EU) and have any questions about the personal information we collect, how we use it, or wish to know what data we have collected for you and/or request that it be removed in accordance with the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), please contact Pieter Droppert who is the designated privacy officer via email: pieter AT biotechstrategyblog DOT com. For users in California who may be governed by the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA), please note we do not sell any personal information. For users in China/Hong Kong, access to BSB after November 1, 2021 is governed by the China Personal Information Protection Law (PIPL) and any access of BSB after this date means you are giving express consent for the collection and use of limited personal information necessary for BSB access. We reserve the right to suspend or decline sales to a particular country, region or state at our sole discretion. Please contact us if you have any questions about the data and personal information we collect.

Blog Comments & Identity

  • Comments are Welcome. Short, blog comments that provide additional insight or commentary on a topic that may be of value or interest to other readers may be welcome depending if we have enabled comments on a post. Historically we offered this option, but in recent years the software required to facilitate comments has created a security risk such that we have disabled this option. We may or may not enable comments in the future, but in the event we offer this option, they are generally welcome.
  • License to use comments. By making any comment or post on this blog, you agree to automatically grant the Biotech Strategy Blog, the Publisher of the Blog and their successors with a world-wide, non-exclusive, perpetual, royalty-free license to your Content in connection with the operation of the blog and associated services. This includes, without limitation, the rights to copy, distribute, transmit, publicly display, publicly perform, reproduce, edit, translate and transmit and reformat your Content and/or to incorporate it into a collective or derivative work.
  • Right to provide Information. By submitting a comment on this blog for publication you represent and warrant that you own the content or possess all necessary rights required to upload, input or submit the content.
  • No Impersonation or Fake Identity. In making a submission to this blog or in seeking to purchase access to Premium Content, you agree not to impersonate any other person or otherwise be misleading about your identity. We expect all purchasers of access to Premium Content to provide their real name at time of purchase, and upon request to verify their identity, employer and/or affiliation and answer any questions we may have about their intended use of BSB Premium Content. Failure to comply in a timely manner or within 48 hours of any request may result in suspension of access to BSB Premium Content until such time as we are satisfied, in our sole determination, that we have received all the information we require. All purchasers of licenses for professional-related use or corporate licenses are expected to use a business related email address in the name of their company or organisation. 
  • No Illegal Comments or Infringement of others rights. You further agree that you will not knowingly and with intent to defraud provide misleading or false information, or that any content you submit will infringe the intellectual property rights of others or be illegal, obscene, defamatory, threatening or otherwise injurious or objectionable.  In the event that any comments posted on this blog violate these terms and conditions, you agree to indemnify and hold harmless the Biotech Strategy Blog, its agents, representatives, Publisher and former Publisher(s) from any legal claims that may result. Complaints about comments should be reported to Pieter Droppert via email: pieter AT biotechstrategyblog DOT com.
  • Comments may be refused or deleted. The Biotech Strategy Blog may moderate the comments submitted and reserves the right at its sole discretion to refuse to post a comment, delete any content after it has been published or to terminate or restrict a user’s access to the blog.

Disclaimer of Warranty & Limitation of Liability

  • No Warranties. You expressly agree that you use this site at your own risk. This site is provided on an “as is” and “as available” basis. The Biotech Strategy Blog along with its Publisher, Representatives and Agents makes no representations or warranties of any kind, express or implied, as to the site’s operation or the information, content or materials included on this site. Users are responsible for their own compliance management and due diligence, and should not rely on the accuracy of any information posted. To the full extent permissible by applicable law, Biotech Strategy Blog, its Publisher, and former Publisher(s) hereby disclaims all warranties, express or implied, including but not limited to implied warranties of merchantability and fitness for any particular purpose. Biotech Strategy Blog and its current and former Publisher(s) will not be liable for any damages of any kind arising from the use of or inability to use this site or the accuracy of any information posted.

BSB does not provide Investment Advice, Investment Research or Equity Analysis

  • No Investment Advice or Investment Research. Biotech Strategy Blog is a trade media publication and does not provide investment advice, stock tips and no post is a solicitation to invest. No posts on this blog provide equity analysis or investment research. The publisher is not an investment business and offers no investment related research or information services. Any opinions expressed or quotes from third parties are for general information only and should not be relied upon for accuracy, completeness or lack of bias. Biotech Strategy Blog does not have a compliance officer, nor do we review any content for compliance. Authors of posts and those interviewed or quoted may be employees, prior-employees, consultants, advisers or clinical investigators of companies mentioned and may hold undisclosed shares or options or have conflicts of interests that may result in bias in their analysis or opinions. Readers should consult a licensed, qualified, professional if they require investment advice, equity analysis or investment research.

Violations of Terms of Use & Blog Access

  • Access may be Blocked or Terminated and Subscriptions or Licenses Declined. Biotech Strategy Blog and its Publisher may at its sole discretion, and without notice, terminate, block or restrict access to this site. In the case of violations of any of the above Terms of Use, subscriptions or licenses may be terminated without refund, and the individual and company they work for not permitted to purchase access again. We reserve the right to decline, at our sole discretion, any request to subscribe, purchase a license to access content or to decline any subscription or license after it has been purchased (including renewals), in which event we will refund the amount paid less any non-refundable costs or charges incurred such as credit card fees or bank charges. We also will deduct from any refund a $1350 per post fee for any posts read/access prior to termination or revocation of access. IP addresses may be be blocked for any attempt to hack our site or violation of our Terms of Use.

ISP & VPN Security

  • Use of Internet Service Providers (ISPs) or Virtual Private Networks (VPNs) to access BSB that present a risk for fraudulent activity or that anonymize identity/location is not permitted, even when being used legally, and may result in termination of BSB access without notice or refund. We do track and monitor the IP address that is used to access BSB in order to maintain the security of our website and detect and prevent fraudulent activity such as sharing of login IDs or sharing of content with others. It is your responsiblity to ensure that we can geolocalise via IP address where a BSB login takes place. We reserve the right, at our sole discretion, to block the access of any IP address to BSB. Purchasing access to BSB premium content does not provide any right that content can be accessed by a specific Virtual Private Network (VPN), Internet Service Provider (ISP) or from a particular IP address or company. Any IP address that is identified as an ISP or VPN that is at risk of fraudulent activity, or any network that anonymizes the identity of the user or doesn’t display their actual location, may be blocked without notice, even if the person using it to access BSB is doing so legitimately. Use of an ISP or VPN that has a risk of fraudulent activity or that provide anonymity or does not show actual location of the user will lead to suspension of access to BSB, and may lead to the termination of access to BSB without refund and/or the denial of any future renewal.

No Vendor Relationship from Individual Purchases

  • Purchasing a subscription or license to BSB, even if you use a corporate credit card or pay for it from a company bank account does not create a vendor or service provider relationship with Biotech Strategy Blog and it’s Publisher unless there is a written agreement otherwise. Biotech Strategy Blog and its Publisher reserve the right to deny access or decline subscriptions or licenses from individuals who seek to create a corporate, vendor or services relationship based on the purchase of an individual subscription or license.

Governing Law & Venue for Disputes

  • Laws of State of Florida apply & venue is only in Florida State Courts in Escambia County. In the unlikely event of a dispute that cannot be amicably resolved, the only venue for any legal action arising from the use of Biotech Strategy Blog or this Agreement, or any dispute with the Publisher shall be the State of Florida circuit and county courts located in Escambia County, Florida. The laws of the State of Florida, without reference to its conflicts of laws principles, govern the use of Biotech Strategy Blog, any disputes with the Publisher and all matters related to and arising out of this Agreement.

Guidance to those who are Unemployed/Betweem Jobs, Consultants, Service Providers, CI, Medical Education, PR, IR, Communications (including within a pharma/biotech company) & Media Professionals on Terms of Use

We no longer allow Consultants (including those involved with clinical development and marketing strategy), and those working in Service Providers (including CROs), Competitive Intelligence (CI), Medical Education, Media (including Journalists & Writers), IR, PR and Communications (including anyone working within a company) or those who are Unemployed/Between Jobs, the right to purchase a subscription through the BSB website, unless with prior approval. Please note we don’t permit the purchase of access by an agency on behalf of a client.

Please contact us first to discuss how our content will be used so that we can determine the appropriate license that will required, and provide a custom quote.

Please note that unless a sharing license has been purchased, at an additional fee, no license to BSB Premium Content permits the sharing of any posts with clients or within any company or organisation.

If anyone who is not a subscriber wants a copy of an article they should sign-up for a subscription to premium content themselves or you should contact us for a quote as to the license fee payable to share content.

You are not permitted to make PDF copies of any posts or to share PDFs with anyone, unless you have paid for a specific license to do so. Any violation of our Terms of Use may lead to a claim for a retrospective license fee, suspension or termination (without refund) of all subscriptions by company/agency staff and a prohibition on future access. 

Login information cannot not be shared with clients or within your company.

We do track site usage and violations of our Terms of Use may result in cancellation of your subscription or license without refund. We may also ban any company found doing this from signing up again in the future and decline future purchases or requests for access. We have banned companies and individuals from access and actively monitor all use of our content, particularly by consultants, agencies and communications professionals. Please note we take this very seriously!

Date of Last Update: 26 Feb 2024

Change Log – Updates to our Terms of Use & Privacy Policy

Effective October 27, 2023 we are providing a change log so that users can clearly note any updates or changes to our Terms of Use and Privacy policy:

October 27, 2023: Updated Section on Blog Copyright and Use of Content to prohibit use of AI, machine learning tools and technology on the BSB website and to prohibit the use of any AI tools to generate derivative works based on BSB content:

No Use of BSB Content by Artificial Intelligence technology or machine learning or data mining tools or models. You are prohibited from data mining or applying any machine learning tools or models to, or train machine learning tools or models, or use any other artificial intelligence technology or the application of such tools to the Biotech Strategy Blog website and Biotech Strategy Blog Content, however derived or accessed.

No Derivative Works can be generated using Artificial Intelligence (AI). You are prohibited from using artificial intelligence tools or models for the purposes of generating text, images or any other material, output or derivative works based on or using Biotech Strategy Blog Content, whether or not in the same or similar style as Biotech Strategy Blog Content.

November 5, 2023. Updated Section on Premium Content and Payments to advise that we will not undertake any phone based verification of our corporate or banking information or authorize any payments by telephone. This is due to the potential for fraud from the use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) software that can clone and replicate voices:

No banking or company information will be verified by Telephone. Due to the availability of Artificial Intelligence (AI) software that can easily clone or replicate anyone’s voice, and the potential this generates for fraud, we will NOT undertake any phone verification of our business or banking information to anyone, irrespective of whether this is an accounting or security policy of any entity, company, university or organisation that wishes to do business with us. In case of any conflict, the Biotech Strategy Blog Terms shall apply, and the requirement for any voice-based verification of information shall be waived, and to the extent necessary, a reasonable, alternative, secure form of non-voiced based verification or authorization shall be provided at the cost of the party requesting it. We do not provide payment authorizations by phone and no phone-based verification of our banking or company information should be relied upon.

February 14, 2024. Updated Section on Premium Content and Payments to remove the % Stripe credit card processing fees we incur, as an example of what would not be refunded in the event we decline any purchase after it has been made. Due to Stripe frequently changing their pricing, most recently effective January 31, 2024, and the variabilty of fees depending on whether a card is US or International and how payment is made, the actual amount of any non-refundable credit card fee will be the actual amount we are charged. The first part of this section now reads:

  • We may, at our sole discretion, refund any purchase made if we decline access, the wrong level of license is purchased or our permission has not be sought prior to purchase as is required if you work in consulting, media, service companies, communications/PR or medical education. If you have previously had BSB access declined or refunded for any reason then our permission is required before you can purchase again. If you had BSB access terminated for violating our terms of use, then this is a permanent ban and you cannot purchase again when you move to a new company. In the event any refund is made, any non-refundable fees that we incur including those levied by banks or credit card payment processors will be deducted from any refund.

February 14, 2024. Updated section on Permission to Share a Reprint or Post on the Web to emphasise that our express permission in writing is required to post any of our content on any website. We evaluate requests to share our content on a case-by-case basis, and a license fee must be paid that specifically includes the right to share that is intended. Any license is usually for a fixed period of time, usually one year. We do provide a courtesy copy of any post we publish to PR companies  and corporate communications teams that facilitate an interview with a company executive, but posting this on any company website as part of “in the news” or “media” coverage without our express permission is an infringement of our copyright and will result in a takedown request, and may also result in a request for monetary payment of a retrospective license fee, and/or the termination of any company access to BSB content. This section now reads:

  • Permission to Share a Reprint or Post on the Web. We may offer, at our discretion, permission to share a post internally with those who are not named designated users or the right to purchase a license for one-off access. The rate for this is negotiable and depends on the company size, amount of content to be shared and likely extent of its distribution. The right to share any of our content internally or post on any website requires our expression permission. All licenses are for a defined period of time, usually one year, and any use beyond this time requires license renewal and additional payment. In all cases copyright is retained by the Publisher of Biotech Strategy Blog, and in the cases of any web posting, full attribution and a link to the original article is required. Content posted on any website without our permission is an infringement of our copyright and violation of our Terms of Use, and will result in a takedown request and may also result in a request for payment of a retrospective license fee and/or the termination of any company access to BSB content. No content can shared, distributed or posted on any web site without our express permission in writing and the purchase of a license to do this.

February 26, 2024. Updated wording in payment sections to clarify that we will not register and set up an account for any supplier portal or payment processing system in order to receive payment. The wording previously referred only to third party cloud based services, and we have now modified this to apply to all supplier portals or equivalent. As a small business focused on content creation we do not have the time, energy or resources to set up and manage supplier accounts that often require a considerable amount of information, especially when the data may then be shared with other companies, and as a condition of use we have to agree to terms and conditions that we may not wish to accept or be unable to negotiate. This section now reads:

  • We will not register for Supplier Portals or Third Party Payment Processing Services. Please note we will not sign up, register or set up an account with any procurement/supplier management system, accounting platform, cloud based service or equivalent in order to receive payment from a company, irrespective of whether this is operated by the company itself or is a third party cloud based or software as a service (Saas) or enterprise resource planning (ERP) application. While we appreciate the convenience that such services and applications may offer when it comes to supplier management and payment processing, we do not wish to accept the Terms and Conditions of working through them, nor do we wish to have our data and information stored or/used by third party companies. Any request to sign up, register or provide detailed information to them will be declined. Should a company not be able to pay us direct without requiring that we use such a service or platform, they will be offered the opportunity to pay by credit card subject to passing through of the credit card processing fee which varies as to whether it is a US or non-US credit card. If this is not acceptable, then regretably we will simply not be able to do business with that company or organisation and any invoice will be cancelled and any quote or proposal withdrawn. Please note our Terms of Use exclusively apply to any purchase and compliance with our Terms over-rides any company policy that may require us to register and be paid through a specific software application, supplier portal or equivalent.