<< Embargo Policy and Confidentiality Agreement >>
AAIC Embargo Policy
The Alzheimer's Association International Conference® (AAIC®) is a well-recognized, global platform for news regarding advances in Alzheimer's and dementia research. If you are interested in having the research you present at AAIC eligible for inclusion in AAIC news releases and news conferences, it must not be published (online or hard copy) or presented, in whole or in part, in any manner, previous to presentation at AAIC. (Note: The Association reserves the right to also include previously published material in its news program, if it so chooses, but this is generally not the case.)
All materials submitted to AAIC are embargoed for publication and broadcast until the officially scheduled date and time of presentation at AAIC, unless the Alzheimer's Association provides written notice of change of date and/or time in advance, such as on an AAIC news release. If there are questions, please contact the Alzheimer's Association Public Relations Department at media@alz.org.
- The news embargo for abstracts and scientific presentations included in the AAIC news program will be listed on the news release that includes that abstract/presentation. This is regardless of the actual time of presentation at AAIC.
- News embargoes for plenaries and oral sessions not included in the AAIC news program are at the beginning of each individual talk (not the overall session). For example, for an oral presentation session starting at 2:00 pm where each talk is 15 minutes, the news embargo on the:
- 1st talk = 2:00 pm
- 2nd talk = 2:15 pm
- 3rd talk = 2:30 pm
- The news embargo on a poster session is at the scheduled beginning of the session.
Public and news announcements made in advance of AAIC that a scientist or company is scheduled to make a presentation at AAIC may include the date, time, location and topic of presentation, but may not include the methods, results and/or conclusions, nor the type or direction of results, even if that is included in the name/title of the submitted abstract. For that reason, authors are discouraged from putting the type and/or direction of results in the abstract title.
All news media representatives, scientists and their funders, and exhibitors/sponsors agree to honor the news embargoes and release times stated on news releases and other news materials issued by the Alzheimer's Association/AAIC.
If a reporter or news media outlet breaks an AAIC news embargo, the Alzheimer's Association reserves the right to revoke their press access and credentials for the current event and future Alzheimer's Association conferences and events.
If a scientist or company that is a participant in an AAIC news briefing or news release is discovered to have broken the news embargo, or encouraged the breaking of a news embargo, the Alzheimer's Association reserves the right to remove the participant from the news briefing and remove that scientist's/company's information from the news release. In addition, consequences for violation of the news embargo may include retraction of the accepted abstract from AAIC and/or loss of privileges of presenting research at AAIC in the future.
SEC-Related Issues
If a publicly traded company is advised that it is legally required to disclose certain data or other information from a confidential AAIC abstract in advance of the AAIC news embargo to satisfy requirements of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission or a corresponding regulatory body in a country where the company's stock is traded (collectively, "SEC"), that company must submit to AAIC, in advance of the SEC-required disclosure:
- Written notification of the time, manner and recipients of the company's release; and
- A letter signed by the company's legal counsel, advising that (a) public disclosure of the information is necessary for the company to comply with applicable securities laws, and (b) the information disclosed is the minimum necessary for such compliance.
If this is done, the abstract will not be automatically rejected or removed from AAIC on the basis of the SEC-required release of data or other information, though the situation is still subject to AAIC review. At a minimum, AAIC may in its discretion change the position of the abstract in AAIC, e.g., from oral presentation to poster. The abstract will most likely be ineligible for the AAIC news program.
The company may issue a news release at the time of SEC-required disclosure. The AAIC abstract itself may not be released publicly by the company or lead author. Mention may be made that full details will be presented at AAIC. AAIC would prefer that the news release:
- Summarize study data cited in the abstract in a qualitative rather than quantitative manner.
- Avoid interpretations about the implications of the data for practice.
As an example, a statement that a study "met its primary endpoint of improving cognition" is qualitative, while "ADAS-Cog scores remained stable for 18 months in the treated group" would be considered quantitative. A quote such as "We are encouraged by these promising results" would not be viewed as interpretive, while a quote such as "These findings support [drug] as first line therapy in mild to moderate Alzheimer's" would be seen as an interpretation of the data.
AAIC Confidentiality Agreement
Abstracts and related information submitted to the Alzheimer’s Association International Conference (AAIC®) meetings are considered final and confidential from the time of submission. This Confidentiality Agreement covers all abstracts, title of abstract and summary description placeholders ("Confidential Information"). Compliance with the Confidentiality Agreement is required by all parties receiving Confidential Information, which includes all embargoed or early copies of the abstracts shared with news media, as these documents are confidential per this policy and each recipient will be held accountable for any violations of AAIC’s Confidentiality Policy.
Prior to the Confidential Information being publicly released by the Alzheimer’s Association in conjunction with the AAIC, authors, coauthors, sponsors of the research, news media, journalists, analysts, other AAIC attendees, and recipients of Confidential Information may not:
- Make the information public, or provide it to others who may make it public
- Publish or present the information or provide it to others who may publish or present it
- Use the information for any commercial purposes, pecuniary purposes, securities trading, securities recommendations and/or securities analysis until such information has been presented at AAIC and been reasonably absorbed on a broader basis into the market.
For a study to be eligible for acceptance into the AAIC, information contained in the abstract, as well as additional data and information to be presented about the study at AAIC, must not be disclosed before the findings have been publicly released in conjunction with AAIC.
Unless express permission is granted by the Alzheimer’s Association, which may be obtained directly upon request, the contents and conclusions of the abstract must not be presented at any scientific, medical or educational meeting or published in a scientific, medical or educational publication (in any medium) in whole or in part, before AAIC. If attendees wish to have information from an abstract or portions of the dataset disclosed in advance of public release in conjunction with AAIC, specific exception requests must be made per the Confidentiality Agreement Exception instructions described below.
Alzheimer’s Association recognizes that certain federal and international laws require disclosure of certain clinical trial results through federal and international registries within a certain time period. If the imposed deadline for data submission falls before AAIC meeting dates, submission of the trial results to the required registry will not be viewed as a breach of AAIC’s Confidentiality Agreement.
Confidentiality Agreement Exceptions
Exceptions to the AAIC Confidentiality Agreement require communication with Alzheimer’s Association a minimum of 48 hours in advance of any public release. Specific inquiries about exceptions to the AAIC Confidentiality Agreement should be emailed to AAICConfidentiality@alz.org.
A Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) Exception is available to companies whose securities are publicly traded to the extent that disclosure is necessary for that company to comply with the disclosure requirements under any US federal or state or international securities laws.
The obligations above shall not extend to any part of the Confidential Information (a) that can be demonstrated to have been in the public domain or publicly known at the time of disclosure; (b) that becomes part of the public domain or publicly known by publication or otherwise, not due to any unauthorized act by the abstract submitter; (c) that can be demonstrated as independently developed by the abstract submitter without reference to or reliance upon such Confidential Information; or (d) that is required to be disclosed by law, in which case the abstract submitter will notify the Alzheimer’s Association of such requirement.
Other Exceptions to the AAIC Confidentiality Agreement may be granted by the Alzheimer’s Association in specific circumstances including but not limited to public health reasons and/or to meet the requirements of state, national or international government agencies.
No matter if a Confidentiality Agreement Exception applies or is granted, Alzheimer’s Association retains the right, in its sole discretion, to change an abstract’s placement in the meeting program based on the extent of information disclosed. If an exception applies or is granted, the study will most likely be ineligible for the official AAIC news program.
If the confidentiality policy is broken, the Alzheimer’s Association retains the right, in its sole discretion, to: remove the abstract from AAIC, deny the responsible author(s) attendance at AAIC, and/or bar the responsible author(s) from future submission and/or attendance at AAIC.
News Embargo-Related FAQ's:
Is advance promotion of general topics, speakers, or presentation times permitted?
Public and news announcements made in advance of AAIC that a scientist or company is scheduled to make a presentation of AAIC may include the date, time, location and topic of presentation, but may not include the methods, results and/or the type or direction of results, even if that is included in the name/title of the submitted abstract. For that reason, authors are discouraged from putting the type and/or direction of results in the abstract title.
Is it acceptable to submit an abstract that presents partial data from a manuscript submitted for publication?
It is not acceptable to submit partial data from a manuscript already submitted for publication AND published in any form before the AAIC news embargo date/time. It is acceptable only if the author(s) and journal guarantee in writing to AAIC that any publication would not occur until after the AAIC news embargo date/time.
Will the submission of this abstract to affect the publication of our manuscript?
No. These review processes are independent. The thresholds for acceptance between conference abstracts and journal manuscripts are very different.