Privacy Notice for Healthcare Professionals

Merck Sharp & Dohme Cyprus Ltd. (registered under company number HE61084, with its registered office at 2–4 Makarios III Avenue, 1065 Nicosia, Cyprus, hereinafter ‘MSD’) provides this notice to explain how we collect, use, and share information relating to your professional activities (‘personal data’) in order to engage with you effectively.

This notice aims to provide transparency about our data processing activities and to inform you of your rights and how you can communicate your preferences to us.

Types of Personal Data We Collect

We collect, verify, and process professional information relating to medical practitioners, pharmacists, nurses, and other healthcare professionals.

We may collect, hold, use, and share (where permitted) the following categories of personal data:

  • Contact details, including your name, professional address, and telephone number
  • Email address and mobile phone number, where we have received your explicit consent
  • Details of our interactions with you, including dates, types of interaction, and any information you have requested from us
  • Records of payments made, where necessary to meet legal and regulatory obligations
  • Information about your medical practice and areas of professional interest
  • Professional photograph (e.g. biographical image) that you have provided to MSD or that is publicly available

How We Use Your Personal Data

We use your personal data to support effective engagement with you in your professional capacity.

  • Identifying your professional specialties and areas of interest
  • Inviting you to attend conferences or participate in programmes
  • Providing educational materials and information about our products and services
  • Conducting promotional activities that may be of interest to you
  • Complying with legal and regulatory obligations
  • Ensuring transparency regarding our interactions with healthcare professionals, including the collection and disclosure of transfers of value (such as consultancy fees, sponsorship, travel, and accommodation), in accordance with applicable industry codes (including EFPIA and KEFEA rules). This may involve public disclosure of such information on an individual basis (where permitted or based on your consent) or in aggregated form.

You will only receive marketing communications by email where we have obtained your prior consent. You may withdraw your consent at any time.

We may analyse your interactions with our communications (such as email engagement) to better understand your professional interests and improve the relevance of the information we provide to you. You have the right to object to such processing at any time.

Legal Basis for Processing

We process your personal data on the following legal bases:

  • Consent – for sending direct marketing communications (e.g. emails)
  • Legitimate interests – for managing and improving our professional relationship with you, provided that such interests do not override your rights
  • Legal obligations – where processing is required to comply with applicable laws and regulations

Our legitimate interests may include:

  • Market research activities
  • Customer communication networks
  • Monitoring use of MSD digital assets, channels, and content
  • Social media listening related to our products and services
  • Segmentation and development of customer profiles and preferences for tailored communications

In certain cases, processing may also be necessary to comply with legal or regulatory obligations, including:

  • Adverse event reporting
  • Anti-bribery and compliance checks
  • Clinical trial participation requirements

Sharing Your Personal Data

MSD Cyprus Ltd. is a subsidiary of Merck & Co., Inc., Rahway, NJ, USA.

We may share your personal data with MSD affiliates outside Cyprus and the European Economic Area in accordance with our Binding Corporate Rules (BCRs).

Your personal data may also be shared with third-party service providers acting on our behalf, who are contractually bound to comply with data protection laws.

More information: https://www.msdprivacy.com/cy/en/

Retention

We will retain your personal data for up to 3 years after our last interaction with you.  “Interaction” may include engagement with our communications, responding to requests, or participating in MSD activities. 

Where there has been no engagement for a prolonged period, we may stop using your data for marketing purposes or seek to refresh your consent.

Your personal data may be retained for a longer period where required by law or regulation, or where we have a legitimate interest in doing so.

Your Rights

You have the right to access, correct, restrict, delete, and object to the processing of your personal data.  You may withdraw your consent at any time.

To exercise your rights: https://dsr.msd.com/DSR/Cyprus/English/

Contact: cyprusprivacy@msd.com We value our professional relationship with you and hope to continue our collaboration.