Medical Trials... official MoneySavingExpert.com discussion

misskool

sandhog wrote: »

I'm seriously considering having a go at this being a guinea pig, so much so, that I'm thinking about self-employment.

My two main worries are

a) the enforced breaks between sessions. Does this mean that annual income is severely limited? Could a man make £5K per year, or is that unrealistic?

b) what are the national insurance implications? If it were just a £2.50 stamp per week or whatever, then no problem.

Regarding the potential health risks, i have to say that in my case it's bit too late to worry. I was a tunnelling contractor and got injured when working in polluted ground at a medical drug research plant!
As I was self-employed I didn't get much help at all. Eight years on the sick and lost nearly everything!

So, very little to lose as I'm right at the bottom of the pile nowadays. This medical research may be better than selling the Big Issue, perhaps.

Advice from those who have experience over a year or more would be very welcome.

unfortunately, unless you are involved in a medical trial for your specific illness, they mostly require males ages 25-45, without any health problems and non-smokers. they can't take anyone who is ill (as there may be other side effects with other medications you are taking or even if you are not on medications, the one you are testing will make you ill)

misskool

LillyJ wrote: »

Does anyone know where I can sign up for trials for asthmatics? I can find info on healthy volunteers but not asthmatics.

(I don't want to discuss the wrongs and rights of trials, just want info, thanks)

ask at your local hospital if anyone knows of any ongoing trials, write to the companies that make your drug (but not the generics). however, unless there is a specific reason or condition they are testing for, you will not be called.

emmy05

eek some of the horror stories thatve been on the news over the last few years, have put me off trying anything really

stphnstevey

I setup Clinical Trials with doctors all around the country and have done for about 8 years now. At any one point I can be working on upto 6 or 7 trials with centres stretching all over the UK from Penzance to Aberdeen and anywhere in the world.

Phase I trials (the only ones you normally get paid for) are normally the first time in man. My personal choice would be unless I had a terminal disease and this was the last chance, then I wouldn't enter a trial.

But that's my opinion and you have to make the choice yourself. It is really the ONLY way of progressing research for commen diseases that (unfortunately) you have a good chance of getting yourself nowadays at some point in your life. Therefore if no one did trials, when you get a problem, it would be the first time they had tested it in humans - can't say I would want that either.

Additionally, for example if you have a condition that effects your quality of life, then sometimes these drugs can work really well and make such a change to your life. The medication tested might give a massive benefit compared to currently available drugs.

Anyway, somebody has to do it and it has a real benefit to mankind, but as most of the people on here, I am ok with this as long as it's not me and personally I consider my body worth more than any figure offered.

barrymung

chrisxr2 wrote: »

the air force still pay for people to go to porton down and get biological and chemical warfare agents tested on them.

..and how many have died...? (It's certainly not 'none' btw..)

stphnstevey

LillyJ wrote: »

Does anyone know where I can sign up for trials for asthmatics? I can find info on healthy volunteers but not asthmatics.

(I don't want to discuss the wrongs and rights of trials, just want info, thanks)

Speak to your GP - there are often Asma (I can never spell it right!) trials done by the health service or he should be able to point you in the right direction. There are websites that list the trials going on in the UK but can't remember the name at the mo - sorry.

kentguy07

dfub wrote: »

I know there have been threads about this before, but i am currently doing (at this very minute) a medical trial at Covance in Leeds. I checked in on Tuesday afternoon and have had a great time. They will only be giving us the drug tomorrow so for one and a half days i will have watched DVD's, used the internet, played video games, read the paper etc.

I was really apprehensive to start with but everyone is so friendly. It is 4 nights now, then 3 in March and 3 in April and for that i get over £1500. It's money for old rope.

Just thougth this might help someone to decide if they were in two minds about signing up.

£1500 for a chance of loosing my life or looking like a elephant no thanks.
If they where giving out trials for a new pain relief thing like aspirin then yeah but
who in the right mind would take pills that could mess them up for life.

If there was a way of doing it from home then i would or if you could take them unsupervised then i would.

angelflower_2

I've done quite a few trials in the past but none of them have involved swallowing any medication. I have tested various kinds of shampoo, sun creams (v boring trial involved being exposed to 1cm sq under uv lamp for up to 3 hours), athletes foot cream, moisturiser for bad skin, various other lotions and potions which are taped to my arm for a maximum of 12 hours. Never had one bad reaction and over the course of about 2 years made £300. Not a huge amount but better than a kick in the teeth. I would do something similar again.

kalifire

I've been involved in about half a dozen medical trials since 2002 and am about to do one in a few weeks again. They sound scary and inadvisable, but once you know what you're talking about, you soon realise they're anything but.

First of all, studies range enormously, from drugs that are already fully licensed and are being tested against types of food or everyday drugs like caffeine, to drugs that have never been tested before. A full breakdown of exactly what's involved and the potential risks are made available before you do it. Comprehensive tests that would cost you hundreds of pounds with BUPA are performed to ensure you're safe to proceed.

Once you're signed up, the only inconvenience is the time you have to spend in the unit, and the slightly uncomfortable experience of having a cannula inserted into your arm to collect blood. Sounds horrific? Not at all. I've made over £10,000 through these trials, which is paid tax free and at my own responsibility to inform the tax people (or not).

It genuinely is THE best way to make significant amounts of money for doing literally nothing more than helping medical science progress and spending several days watching DVDs on your laptop.

picklepick

id be interested in joining one of these sites if anyone knows of any that conduct trials in the north west or midlands?