Gene Essence Privacy Policy

Our Labs

Privacy Policy

We at BioMarker Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (the “Company”) understand that there is nothing more personal than your individual genetic information. We place the highest value on keeping such information private, along with all your other personal information. Consistent with this Privacy Policy, our goal is to be universally trusted as a source for providing personal genetic information services in a private and discreet manner. We can only accomplish this by gaining our customers’ trust and making their privacy one of our top priorities.

Should you decide to become a customer, we will analyze your DNA sequence from the samplethat you provide, and we will provide the resulting information to you (the “Services”). This privacy policy (the “Privacy Policy”) is designed to inform you of our policies and procedures regarding the collection, use, and disclosure of personal information we receive from you in connection with your registration at our website at www.GeneEssence.com (the “Site”) and our provision of the Services. This Privacy Policy applies to personally identifiable information you provide through the Site and personally identifiable information you provide to us when you return your Packet (as defined below). Though we will always handle information in accordance with the policy in place at the time we collected it, we do reserve the right to modify the terms of this Privacy Policy at any time. We will post on our web site notice of any such changes to this Privacy Policy, so please review our website and policies periodically.

Information We Collect

  1. We will gather your information when you register with us through the Site. Upon your request to receive the Services, we will send to you a packet of information brochures, forms to be completed by you, and a DNA swab collection kit (collectively, the “Packet”). 
  2. When you return your Packet or register with the Site, we gather: your name, address, phone number, credit card or other billing information, email address, and postal address (collectively and separately, your “Account Information”).
  3. When you return your Packet you will provide to us a sample, from which we will extract, process, and analyze your DNA to determine your genotype data.  The genotype data that we report to you is referred to herein as your “Derived Genetic Information.” You may also receive forms, surveys or questionnaires along with your Packet that ask for information that includes your gender and race (collectively and separately, your “Necessary Profile Information”) and your disease conditions, family history, ancestry, age, and physical traits like height and weight (collectively and separately, your “Optional Profile Information”).  Your Necessary Profile Information allows us to provide you tailored genetic information with consideration of your gender and ethnicity.  Your Optional Profile Information is provided by you on a strictly voluntary basis and is not required in order to process your sample.  However, electing to provide Optional Profile Information may enable the Company to advance the science of genetics and provide you with an even better understanding of who you are genetically.

How We Use Your Information

  1. We will use your Account Information to provide the Service to you, which includes but is not limited to: sending the Packet and your Derived Genetic Information to you, completing your transactions, administering your inquiries, authenticating your visits to the Site, notifying you that your Derived Genetic Information is ready for viewing or has been updated, sending you information and products that you have requested, and managing the Site.  We will also use your Account Information to contact you with Company newsletters, marketing or promotional materials, and other information that may be of interest to you. If you decide at any time that you no longer wish to receive such communications from us, please follow the unsubscribe instructions provided in any of the communications or update your “user preferences” information.
  2. We will analyze your sample, DNA, Necessary Profile Information, and any Optional Profile Information to provide the Service.  In order to maintain the highest degree of security and privacy, this analysis will be conducted using barcodes and not in connection with any personal identifiers or Account Information.  Your Derived Genetic Information is stored in our databases with security measures in place and can be accessed by you via our website by creating your personal account.  We may use your Necessary Profile Information and any Optional Profile Information that you provide to advance the science of genetics and provide you with a better understanding who you are genetically.

Information Sharing and Disclosure

  1. Third Party Service Providers.  Your Account Information may be provided to an authorized third-party agent in order to facilitate a transaction that you have requested (e.g., billing, shipping) and in those cases only the minimum amount of information (e.g., name and address for shipping) will be shared. Except for the foregoing, we will not disclose your Account Information to any third party without your express consent.  We will also share your DNA with third-party contracted laboratories to perform the genetic test you order and to generate the data necessary to provide your Derived Genetic Information.  To ensure your privacy is protected, our third-party contracted laboratories do not know whose DNA they are processing.  It is identified only by unique barcode, and such laboratories will not have access to your Account Information or any other personal identifiers. 
  2. Compliance with Laws and Law Enforcement.  The Company cooperates with government and law enforcement officials and private parties to enforce and comply with the law. The Company will only disclose personal information about you to government or law enforcement officials or private parties if it believes in good faith it is required by law to make such disclosure, including but not limited to in response to a legal subpoena or to comply with search warrants, or to defend its rights or those of a third party.
  3. Business Transfers.  The Company may sell, transfer or otherwise share some or all of its assets, including your Account Information, sample, DNA, Necessary Profile Information, Optional Profile Information, and Derived Genetic Information in connection with a merger, acquisition, reorganization or sale of assets or in the event of bankruptcy. You will have the opportunity to opt out of any such transfer if the new entity's planned processing of your information differs materially from that set forth in this Privacy Policy. 

Cookies

Like many websites, we use “cookies” to collect information.  A cookie is a small data file that we transfer to your computer’s hard disk for record-keeping purposes.  We only utilize persistent cookies to save your login information for future logins to the Site.  We utilize session ID cookies to enable certain features of the Site, to better understand how you interact with the Site and to monitor aggregate usage by the Company’s users and web traffic routing on the Site. Unlike persistent cookies, session cookies are deleted from your computer when you log off from the Site and Service and then close your browser. You can instruct your browser, by changing its options, to stop accepting cookies or to prompt you before accepting a cookie from the websites you visit. If you do not accept cookies, however, you may not be able to use all portions of the Site or all functionality of the Service.

Phishing

Identity theft and the practice currently known as “phishing” are of great concern to the Company.  Safeguarding information to help protect you from identity theft is a top priority. We do not and will not, at any time, request your credit card information, your account information, or national identification numbers in a non-secure or unsolicited e-mail or telephone communication. For more information about phishing, visit the Federal Trade Commission’s website.

Changing or Deleting Your Account Information 

You may review, update, correct or delete your Account Information by contacting us. If you would like us to delete any of your information or records in our system, please contact us and we will accommodate your request if we do not have any legal obligation to retain the record.  Your sample is automatically destroyed as described under “Security,” below.

Security

The Company is very concerned with safeguarding your information. We employ administrative, physical, and electronic measures designed to protect your information from unauthorized access. 

We will store your Account Information, Necessary Profile Information, and Optional Profile Information on a secure Company server until we have completed the Services and sent you notification that the report providing your Derived Genetic Information (the “Report”) is available via web access. Thereafter, we will destroy your sample and store your Account Information, Necessary Profile Information, and Optional Profile Information only in an off-line computer or storage media in a locked and access-restricted location. 
 

We will inform you of any breach of the security, confidentiality, or integrity of your information via email or conspicuous posting on the Site in the most expedient time possible and without unreasonable delay, insofar as consistent with (i) the legitimate needs of law enforcement or (ii) any measures necessary to determine the scope of the breach and restore the reasonable integrity of the data system.

International Transfer

Your information may be transferred to — and maintained on — computers located outside of your state, province, country or other governmental jurisdiction where the privacy laws may not be as protective as those in your jurisdiction.  If you are located outside the United States and choose to provide information to us, the Company transfers your information to the United States and processes it there. Your consent to this Privacy Policy followed by your submission of such information represents your agreement to that transfer.

Links to Other Sites

Our Site contains links to other websites. If you choose to visit an advertiser by “clicking on” a banner ad or other type of advertisement, or click on another third party link, you will be directed to that third party’s website. The fact that we link to a website or present a banner ad or other type of advertisement is not an endorsement, authorization or representation of our affiliation with that third party, nor is it an endorsement of their privacy or information security policies or practices. We do not exercise control over third party websites. These other websites may place their own cookies or other files on your computer, collect data or solicit personal information from you. Other sites follow different rules regarding the use or disclosure of the personal information you submit to them. We encourage you to read the privacy policies or statements of the other websites you visit.

Our Policy Towards Children

This Site is not directed to children under 18. We do not knowingly collect personally identifiable information from children under 18.  If a parent or guardian becomes aware that his or her child has provided us with any personal information without their consent, he or she should notify us immediately. If we become aware that a child under 18 has provided us with personal information we will delete such information from our files. 

Contacting Us

If you have any questions about this Privacy Policy, please contact us at 1-877-380-4519; help@GeneEssence.com; or visit us at www.GeneEssence.com. 

Please also note the following:

  • Gene Essence test cannot predict if diseases will develop
  • Presence of a risk carrying allele does not mean that the development of the disease is inevitable
  • Your health/disease condition is influenced by lifestyle and environment, in addition to genetic factors
  • Presence of risk allele indicates that the individual is more susceptible to a particular condition
  • Once you down load your personal Gene Essence Report™, your data is no longer secured by the layers of encryption provided on our secured servers.  What you do with your data and your Gene Essence Report™ is fully your responsibility.