Clinical Studies

[HangukMiguk 8]

There's a medical research facility in my area, that's been advertising about clinical studies. I could use some extra money, and have been considering participating.Has anyone here ever done one of these? Worth it? Anything I should know beforehand or beware of?

[digitalmonkey 929]

Put duct tape on your arsehole.

[ajs510 122]

I did one after 9/11 to test the effectiveness of a dilluted smallpox vaccine (because there wasn't enough to go around in the event of an attack and it takes a long time to make more, apparently). Had to get the injection (which forms an interesting pustule on your arm), get professionally bandaged up and swear on my life not to remove it or get it wet, had to take my temperature twice per day and record the results, and go into the office twice a week to get rebandaged. I think they paid me something like $500 for the trouble, not bad really. Start to finish I think I was a clinical study for about a month. As far as I know, I'm effectively vaccinated against smallpox now (they never told me which dose I got, the 50%, 75%, or 100%, but the result was what they expected).

[Bill_Brasky 0]

I did one after 9/11 to test the effectiveness of a dilluted smallpox vaccine (because there wasn't enough to go around in the event of an attack and it takes a long time to make more, apparently). Had to get the injection (which forms an interesting pustule on your arm), get professionally bandaged up and swear on my life not to remove it or get it wet, had to take my temperature twice per day and record the results, and go into the office twice a week to get rebandaged. I think they paid me something like $500 for the trouble, not bad really. Start to finish I think I was a clinical study for about a month. As far as I know, I'm effectively vaccinated against smallpox now (they never told me which dose I got, the 50%, 75%, or 100%, but the result was what they expected).

Was there any risk that you would actually get smallpox? That stuff is no joke.

[ajs510 122]

Was there any risk that you would actually get smallpox? That stuff is no joke.

I don't believe it was a live virus that I was injected with, but I honestly don't know for certain. Never did, no idea if I could have. Probably not.

[yeffy 0]

I don't believe it was a live virus that I was injected with, but I honestly don't know for certain. Never did, no idea if I could have. Probably not.

Ummm maybe the reason you had to swear not to remove the bandage was a risk of starting a smallpox epidemic?

[ajs510 122]

Ummm maybe the reason you had to swear not to remove the bandage was a risk of starting a smallpox epidemic?

Goddamnit.

[Bill_Brasky 0]

I don't believe it was a live virus that I was injected with, but I honestly don't know for certain. Never did, no idea if I could have. Probably not.

Well vaccinations are just weaker strains of the virus right? I mean, I've heard of cases with other vaccinations where people have actually gotten sick from the shot. You'd be permanently disfigured even if you lived through smallpox. I wouldn't have even gotten close to the building where they were messing with this stuff.

[ajs510 122]

Well vaccinations are just weaker strains of the virus right? I mean, I've heard of cases with other vaccinations where people have actually gotten sick from the shot. You'd be permanently disfigured even if you lived through smallpox. I wouldn't have even gotten close to the building where they were messing with this stuff.

So where were you 6 years ago when I was signing up for this?Like I said, I'm pretty sure it wasn't a live virus but I was 23 and invincible at the time so I didn't listen to everything the doctors and nurses said all that carefully. All I knew was I was broke and getting $500 for a little discomfort. I seem to remember my father asking the same question and being able to tell him that it wasn't dangerous, but I don't recall now if that was 100% accurate. Still here, still queer. That's all I know.

[Orion071 0]

I work at a pharma company and have a lot of experience with clinical trials.I would say that the facility is looking for young, healthy males to participate in a Phase I trial. That usually means that it is strictly a safety trial. They want to inject people with various level of the experimental drug to see what the tolerability levels are. That's why ajs said his trial had 50%, 75% and 100% level doses. The company is hoping that nobody has any adverse reactions to the drug and they can continue with a new trial at the 100% level with actual sick people. Phase I trials are usually short (<1 month) and involve nothing more than taking the study medication and going through several physical exams and taking of vital signs. There also is some lab work where they'll draw blood a few times during the study.Some studies are PK studies where they want to measure the level of drug in your system over a period of time. This invovles taking the study medication and then having your blood drawn many, many times over a 24 or 48-hour period. This obviously involves an overnight stay or 2. If this is not appealing to you, make sure you read the informed consent document carefully so you know what you're getting into.

[mtdesmoines 3]

There's a medical research facility in my area, that's been advertising about clinical studies. I could use some extra money, and have been considering participating.Has anyone here ever done one of these? Worth it? Anything I should know beforehand or beware of?

Yeah, no problem. http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/article742771.ece

[Orion071 0]

Yeah, no problem. http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/article742771.ece

Damn, I used to work for Parexel too. But they laid me off 3 1/2 years ago, so fuck em. But to be honest, it wasn't Parexel's fault. All they do is run the trial. It's that German drug company that had a defective product.Yeah, the UK regulatory is much less strict than it is here. It's even worse in the rest of Europe. I can't say that the same thing couldn't happen here, but the chances are highly remote.

[erac22 0]

I once got paid 50 bucks by the psych dept for sitting in an MRI machine while they took pictures of my brain as they fed me different juices through a straw and watched a Simpsons epsidoe. i also got to keep a picture of my brain. The jucie gave me the shits though. Not sure if this was even what you're talking about, but uhhh, yeah...

[vonteego3 0]

So where were you 6 years ago when I was signing up for this?Like I said, I'm pretty sure it wasn't a live virus but I was 23 and invincible at the time so I didn't listen to everything the doctors and nurses said all that carefully. All I knew was I was broke and getting $500 for a little discomfort. I seem to remember my father asking the same question and being able to tell him that it wasn't dangerous, but I don't recall now if that was 100% accurate. Still here, still queer. That's all I know.

The smallpox vaccine is a live virus... but it's not smallpox. I can't remember the exact name of it, but it's a similar but much weaker virus. The potential risk of transmission if you were to remove the bandage is pretty much voided by the fact that there aren't a lot of people that would see the open wound and think "Now THAT is something I'd like to taste!" But hey, if that's what you're in to...

[silkyjonson 1]

Well vaccinations are just weaker strains of the virus right? I mean, I've heard of cases with other vaccinations where people have actually gotten sick from the shot. You'd be permanently disfigured even if you lived through smallpox. I wouldn't have even gotten close to the building where they were messing with this stuff.

Its a deactivated form of a virus in most cases, has the proteins and other components that will stimulate your immune system but does'nt have all the pieces to actually have someone contract the virus. People can have adverse reactions to many vaccines but its not because they are contracting the virus just that their immune system over reacts a little. But it can cause you to lose a testicle.