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donating my body to science
HalberdBlue
Registered User regular
Registered User regular
I've been looking for ways to make money to summer to save for college this fall and was wondering if anyone at PA has some experience with clinical drug tests?
I'm mostly wondering what I should expect, what sort of freedoms I might have, what I might want to bring with me (like books or a laptop, if I can even bring those), etc. Also, what to look out for that might be unpleasent.
My friend is signed up to do some arthritis drug testing for Pfizer... I think he said it was $2,200 for a 10-20 day thing (staying at the research clinic). I called them but had to leave a message. I called another place and left a message and got a response about 30 minutes ago. They are also testing arthritis drugs, and offering $2,715 for a 16 day thing (also staying at the research clinic). This seems like great money, way better than what I'd make from a summer job at least. The 16 day thing is about a 100 minute drive (which mostly matters because I'd have to make 4 round trips in total, 2 for screening, 1 to get there, and 1 for a checkup a week later) while the Pfizer one is only about 50 minute away. My Mom thinks its a great idea, and my dad probably will too when he comes home later, since he has really been harping on me to make some money for college. So I probably will be doing this so I'm not asking advice on whether or not I should, I'm asking for the wisdom of PA on what to expect.
I'm mostly wondering what I should expect, what sort of freedoms I might have, what I might want to bring with me (like books or a laptop, if I can even bring those), etc. Also, what to look out for that might be unpleasent.
My friend is signed up to do some arthritis drug testing for Pfizer... I think he said it was $2,200 for a 10-20 day thing (staying at the research clinic). I called them but had to leave a message. I called another place and left a message and got a response about 30 minutes ago. They are also testing arthritis drugs, and offering $2,715 for a 16 day thing (also staying at the research clinic). This seems like great money, way better than what I'd make from a summer job at least. The 16 day thing is about a 100 minute drive (which mostly matters because I'd have to make 4 round trips in total, 2 for screening, 1 to get there, and 1 for a checkup a week later) while the Pfizer one is only about 50 minute away. My Mom thinks its a great idea, and my dad probably will too when he comes home later, since he has really been harping on me to make some money for college. So I probably will be doing this so I'm not asking advice on whether or not I should, I'm asking for the wisdom of PA on what to expect.
HalberdBlue on
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If you have a genuine medical condition and would like to help yourself and others by participating in a study or trial, then do that of course, with an understanding of the risks involved. But don't just start signing up for drug trials so you can make some quick cash.
EDIT: I just re-read and saw that you didn't want advice, but I still feel like I should leave this here, as you may not understand the risks. People have DIED while doing clinical drug testing.
That being said, if you can get in, it's a good thing. For a drug to make it to human testing, it has to be pretty safe already, and it's more of an inconvenience to test the things than it is actually dangerous. You may have side effects, etc.
However, if they're testing arthritis drugs, it's curious that they're accepting any old person. Unless they're going through the basic tests to make sure they're safe, and to figure out what the side effects are. A lot of times tests are limited to those suffering with the condition.
It's not the best idea, but it's not a bad idea. Make sure you're signing paperwork and make sure you're getting paid. Read through stuff before you sign it.
For the most part, you're not going to qualify for a clinical trial unless you actually have an illness that they're interested in. Secondly, most of the time you can't just walk in and ask to be put in a trial. On occasion, some pharma companies will recruit on Craigslist or in newspapers for trial participants, but it's much more common for them to recruit through doctors and hospitals.
$2,200 for a trial involving an inpatient stay at a clinic is uncommon at best, and I'm very surprised that your friend qualified if he was not already diagnosed with arthritis.
So even without addressing the health risks involved, the chances of you qualifying for a study or enough studies to make enough money to talk about are pretty slim. (The chances of dying from a drug test are actually quite low; they don't let the companies test any old molecule on humans without extensive pre-clinical data.)
If you really want to sell your body for some money, consider sperm donations instead. That's $50-100 every 1-2 weeks.
the "no true scotch man" fallacy.
You make it sound like some sort of crime that he'd even consider it. Jesus, he makes a buck while helping to get a new drug on the market. How awful. He's more likely to die on the drive over than he is to die in the trial.
And is a surprisingly competetive selection process...
The TGN1412 trial was a one-in-a-million fluke.
the "no true scotch man" fallacy.
With an unsafe and underinsured company. If he takes anything from that I would suggest that he researches the company first and reads thoroughly through any paperwork he's made to sign.
Several years ago I asked them whether I should participate in some clinical tests. They said.... well, suffice it to say the extremely negative reaction I got from them taught me the lesson: stay the fuck away from drug tests.
I'm really looking for first-hand experience here though guys, sorry if my original post wasn't clear enough. Or advice from people who run these tests, etc.
Every link I've found so far has basically talked about how you have a greater risk of dying driving to the clinic than from the drugs (this phrase was used very often), and that a lot of the time its just a fight against dying of boredom. So I'm not too worried about not having my dad's approval (though as I type I know he is downstairs looking for as many cases of people dying in drug trials as he can) even though he made it clear that he isn't going to interfere if I want to do it.
I was talking with a friend at a party and he mentioned that he had started doing clinical drug trials. I asked him how they were going. "Oh pretty good, except now I get fits of rage pretty frequently." Kind of disturbing considering he was testing out an allergy medicine.
Edit: Do they even pay blood donors in the US anymore?
I thought they stopped some years ago.
the "no true scotch man" fallacy.
You and your body are going to be together for a very long time, hopefully. Don't let anyone pay you to introduce weird, untested shit to it. Death wouldn't really be my biggest concern. It's the potential side effects, with so many of the drugs being developed targeting the nervous system, reproductive system, altering the chemistry of the brain, or otherwise tinkering with parts of the body science is still struggling to understand.
And then there are the stories of people going off mood-altering medication and hurting themselves or their loved ones. No, fuck all that. Like others have said, do something else. Do anything else.
TGN 1412 was what I thought of the minute I read the OP's post. Bad, bad way to go.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TGN1412
Viagra would have been pretty sweet though.
You can donate platelets too, but you don't get paid for that either.
Less Plasma=quick drunk.
And usually bad enough for them to end up with the ol' Sharpie mustache.
Ant000 touched on it. The FDA doesn't allow blood to be paid for because the studies done indicate that volunteers provide a safer supply.
Plus, I'd imagine some people would start selling to the highest bidder and private blood banks could circulate it only to people who could pay the best premium for premium blood. Same reason you can't sell your kidney to the highest bidder, and so on.
Warframe: TheBaconDwarf
I guess you mentioned that it doesn't pay as much cash, but I guess that depends on what job you land... Not sure how it is over there in the US, but if you're into computers and that kinda stuff you may be able to get an entry-level IT job, or maybe just a small office job if you don't want to go to McDonalds... those jobs usually pay better, too (atleast here they do). But, I'm no expert on the job market there, so it's just a suggestion.
You take your meds usually in the morning and for the next 4 hours you have to stay together and basically watch movies while they draw blood or whatever type of sample they need. You keep going with your scheduled draws for however long they need and they feed you and when it's all over you get paid. Im putting a $1000 check in the bank today for a study that took 2 weekends of my time.
One thing to remember. If you have trouble giving blood...this might not be the route for you. You job while you are there is to give blood and they will get it from you any way they can. If you start to feel faint they will simply lie you down on a mat on the floor and draw your blood then. Thankfully these places often have some well traiend phlebotamists (sp) and half the time you don't even feel the needle.
Anyone who makes it sound like you are going to die or have some horrible experience with this is exaggerating. Hundreds of people every single weekend in my town do this and studies fill up each and every week. The drugs you are testing are in the very end stages and rarely have side effects that are very serious. Ive seen people become sick to their stomachs and things like that, but you wont vomit up blood or anything like that.
So in short. If you want to do this go for it. It's an easy way to make alot of money if you have the time.
I have no problem giving blood; both times that I've donated blood I've been able to stand up right afterward and not be light-headed.
I found some statistics on deaths etc... 1 in 3,000 die in an accidental injury, 1 in 6,000 die in a motor vehicle accident, 1 in 10,000 test subjects die in a drug test. That last statistic is inclusive of all drug tests, from the ones where people were mostly likely going to die anyways (like people with the late stages of heart disease) to the people testing medicine for minor ailments.