Privacy notice for patients
Last updated: November 1, 2026. Pathway Biosciences is operated by Investigate Health Publishing LLC.
What Pathway Biosciences is
Pathway Biosciences is where people living with a health condition can choose to take part in paid research. Research teams send requests. You see what each one asks and what it pays, and you decide. This notice covers patients. Research teams have their own policy.
Pathway Biosciences is for adults 18 and over in the United States.
What we hold about you
- Your email address. We use it to sign you in with a one-time code and to tell you when something needs your attention. Our emails never include health details. If you asked for access on our waitlist, we use your email to tell you when it opens and to run the sign-up drawing.
- An ID number that we create for you. Research teams see this number, never your name or email.
- What you chose to share from an app you connected, such as Ethia. You pick the kinds of information and how long the sharing lasts. We accept only set fields, such as a diagnosis, a medication, a lab value or a check-in score. We do not accept free text.
- A record of what you agreed to. Each time you agree to something we keep the exact words you saw, your choices, the date and the internet address you used. We email you a copy.
- Your requests and answers: which requests you received, what you decided, the answers you gave and any messages on a request. If you joined a survey or interview without a linked app, we keep that you said who it was for describes you, and the research team is told the place was taken that way.
- What you are owed and what you were paid, and the payout details you give us so we can pay you.
- Paid research you said you were interested in on the research board.
- Your basic profile, if you give one: your conditions, age range, sex assigned at birth, state, the first three digits of your ZIP code, whether you see a specialist and what you are interested in. You choose from set answers and can skip any of them. We use your full ZIP code once to work these out, then discard it. Where few people live in a three-digit area, we keep only your state.
- Screening answers you chose to give: your age band (not your birth date), your sex, the state you live in, advanced treatments you took in the past, and how active your condition has been. You choose from set answers. They are marked as reported by you and kept apart from what your apps send. Research teams can find you by them, never by your name or email. You can change or remove them any time in Settings.
We do not hold your name, your birth date or your home address. If you ask to be contacted about a clinical trial, we hold the contact details you give for that one request.
How dates are handled
Dates in what you share are shifted by a set number of days that is different for each person, so a date in your information cannot be matched to a calendar.
Who sees what
- Before you say yes, research teams see only markers under your ID number: your condition, age band, sex and state, which kinds of data you share, how active you are and how much there is to go on. They never see your name or email, and never your check-ins, lab results, medicines or record. We use those details ourselves only to work out which research you match and how much of what each listing asks you already have.
- Your basic profile is used to show you research that fits you. Research teams do not see it. If that changes, we will ask you first.
- When you accept a request, the research team receives what that request said it would share, under your ID number.
- For a clinical trial, your contact details go to the study team only if you choose to give them, and only for that trial.
- You see only the kind of organization asking, such as "a pharmaceutical company". The exception is Pathway Biosciences' own research, which says Pathway Biosciences.
- Pathway Biosciences' own reports. If you agree to be counted, or take part in a Pathway Biosciences survey, your information is combined with other people's into reports that Pathway Biosciences writes and sells to companies, which can include drug makers. A report never names you or shows one person's information on its own.
Being paid
When you accept a paid request you are paid for it. Being paid is your choice each time, and each request shows what it pays before you decide.
Your choices
- Pause new requests for a week, a month or three months.
- Turn off an app you connected. Nothing more comes in from it, and what it sent is removed.
- Change or remove your basic profile, one answer or all of them.
- Stop being counted in Pathway Biosciences' reports. Reports already written are not changed.
- Leave Pathway Biosciences. Open requests are withdrawn, what your apps sent and your basic profile are removed, and no new information is taken in. Money you earned is still yours.
- Decline any request, with or without a reason.
All of these are in your Settings.
What we keep after you leave
We keep the record of what you agreed to, the requests you completed and what you were paid. These are the records that show what happened and that you were paid correctly. Research teams keep results you already gave them for a completed, paid request.
Artificial intelligence
Pathway Biosciences uses an AI service to help research teams turn written criteria into search filters and to suggest report topics. Only the team's own text, or totals about groups of patients, are sent. No patient's information is sent, and no AI scores or ranks you.
Visits to our pages
We count visits to our public pages on our own servers so we can see which pages and links are used. We do not use advertising cookies or share visits with advertising companies.
Changes
If this notice changes in a way that affects what you agreed to, we will tell you by email.