Generous Payments for Medical Research

calleyw

On a USA chat show they had a family that did this sort of thing.

But they tested everything from sweets to drugs. But the one they did not do was the one where you got paid some like a $100,000 for opening you up and stopping your heart for a couple of minutes.

Ummm no thanks.


Yours


Calley

jenniferone

anyone know of anywhere in liverpool who do this

andrew71

Is the money from these sort of things taxable? Just wondering if you were claiming beneift would they stop it because you were being paid for this?

emujuice

I've not actually taken part in any trials as there aren't that many for women. I've been to a pre trial medical (for which Covance in leeds pay £20 for and lasts around an hour). My friend has done several trials there and has generally enjoyed it (they have sky, games etc... and he's pretty poor, so free food is good for him too!).
Trials there pay very well, a week or so of O/Ns and a couple of day clincs pays around £1500, tax free, as its expenses rather than pay. I don't know a lot more, but you can pick and choose what trial to take. If it's for something like ibroprofen, there's not a lot to worry about is there? Drugs have to go through trials, even if they're are licenced, if they are considering recomending them for treating something that isn't already on their licence, which is why there are often trials for innoccuous things.

jap200

bah_humbug wrote:

Great idea..if people are interested.

If more did wouldn't this lead to fewer animals for testing?

*don't know if this is true, just wondering following that program the other night*

Until recently I used to work for a major Pharmaceutical Company as a Clinical Research Manager, i.e. the person who plans and organises these sort of clinical trials.

To put a few details straight:

There are four phases of clinical trials in drug development, three of which take place entirely before the drug is available for use on prescription. It is a legal requirement in the UK at present for all potential new drugs to have gone through the full animal testing phase - whether we like it or not - this is the current law.

The types of clincal trials that people are discussing here are Phase 1 trials in the main - i.e. the first use of the prouduct in humans - in this case, healthy fit people (ususally young males). The drug is given in various doses in order to determine how it is handled by the body's organs and to record any adverse medical events that occur (which may or may not be drug related). In these trials the volunteers are paid 'expenses' - they are, after all not ill and therefore not expecting to receive a treatment to make them better.

In later trials, the potential drug is given to patients with the condition that it is thought the drug may have some benefit - and may be compared to a placebo (a dummy drug or 'sugar pill') or where it would be unethical to give the patient a placebo, it will be compared to the current drug of choice. These patients are also volunteers (giving informed consent), but are not usually paid for their participation. I am constantly amazed that so many people do volunteer for these trials - after all, they may receive the placebo! The main motivation seems to be that they will be very closely monitored and receive loads of attention and there is also a chance that they may be receiving a new 'wonder drug'. There will of course also be people who do it purely for altruistic reasons - ie. for the good of others.

New pharmaceutical products would not get onto the marketplace at all unless there were people willing to take part in the trials. However, my personal view, having worked closely with these trials for years is that I would not take part in a Phase 1 trial as a healthy volunteer. There is always a risk of seriously damaging your health, which to me is priceless. As some have pointed out already, the amount per hour is not a lot, unless you are being asked to have pretty nasty invasive procedures done.

I would also strongly advise woman of child-bearing age not to take part. Pregnancy tests are always done first, but there is always a risk of damaging your eggs/ovaries and affecting your fertility or health of any future babies. -

To anyone still seriously considering taking part in clinical trials as healthy volunteers, I would suggest that you think very, very carefully about your motivations and consider other ways you could earn the same amount of money without risking your health.

If you are still keen to do it - read the information very carefully and have every single procedure and potential risk and side effect explained very, very carefully until you are absolutely certain that you understand it (some of the information is very complicated). If you do not fully understand it - or the staff are unable/unwilling to explain it to your satisfaction - DO NOT DO IT

Sorry that I have gone on a bit, but this is not a money-making venture to be taken lightly - And is certainly out of place on the Freebies forum. This is not free/easy money.

On the other hand, there is good money to be had working for in the pharmaceutical industry................ but that's another story!

andrew71

I guess if you have a medical condition such as M.E then they would probably refuse you?

sarbre

When you volunteer for a trial you get a full medical, including ECG test, blood & urine samples. You have to fit into a "healthy" range for all of these, and answer questions about your state of health so someone with ME wouldn't meet the criteria I'm afraid.

In retrospect, maybe I shouldn't have included this message on the "freebie" site. Sorry if I've offended anyone. Personally I've never felt it was a great risk for me. If I donated blood or took an ibuprofen on two separate occasions no one would blink an eyelid. Although I do agree that you have to consider each trial very carefully - there are some that I would be reluctant to do. I also think it is more common for people to put their health at risk through their general lifestyle - e.g. lack of exercise, poor diet, smoking and drinking.

jap200

sarbre wrote:

Although I do agree that you have to consider each trial very carefully - there are some that I would be reluctant to do. I also think it is more common for people to put their health at risk through their general lifestyle - e.g. lack of exercise, poor diet, smoking and drinking.

I couldn't agree more!

I think that your health is one of your most important assets and we should do everything we can to look after ourselves. There is of course a need for the develpment of new pharmaceuticals and this could not occur without people volunteering for clinical trials - I salute those of you who do, but re-iterate that you need to make sure you fully understand the risks involved.

By the way, just because you are being asked to take a common drug like ibuprofen, doesn't mean that there is no risk. There will be some reason why the trial is being done and it may be that they want to look at the the effect of taking a single large dose for example. The damage that high doses of paracetamol do to the liver will have been investigated in this way.