Has anyone ever done any clinical trails??? I've seen some that pay some crazy amounts of money...I have only done a few one day deals...Did a couple for needeles....and lancets...Paid well like $75 & $100 for about 20-30 minutes of work...Took longer to do the paper work up. I got poked 10-15 times and had to rate the level of pain...

I would be interested in doing some of the long term -stay over studies...

Any hints how to get get signed on, with someone legit??

I have participated in several long term studies that did pay at the end of 2 years. The pay was fair but what I found even more valuable was intensely detailed baseline testing and follow up testing. I will never know if I was in the test group or the control group. I suspect the first time I was control group and second time test group. If you Google 'clinical trial participation' on the web you will find a wealth of resources to locate trials starting up near you. Your local newspaper, television and yellow pages may also lead you to clinical studies being done in your area.

The ground rules for the clinical study center here is that either you have the diagnosis they are testing a treatment for or if you are just a 'healthy volunteer' it must be 2 years since your previous clinical study.

Google General Clinical Reseach Centers in your area which usually have website links to current clinical trials. These GCRCs are funded by the National Institutes of Health and are getting phased out; under the "new and improved" system, they are being called CTSAs so your local center might be under that name now. Because of the stricter controls that the government puts on these centers, many others--especially the drug companies-- started to do their trials at private clinics/hospitals so you can search those too. Due to budget tightening, the pay is not as lucrative as it used to be but as Flash mentioned, you get a lot of medical tests for free. There actually are people who are referred to as professional volunteers as they travel from one hospital to another throughout the country as study participants. Living in Los Angeles, we usually see a lot of would-be actors/actresses who are waiting for the next big role, or those who got turned down by a music label and just need the money for the fare back home.

I have looked on <clinicaltrials.gov> but found it mind boggling in its length and detail. You look under your city and your disease.

I have tried out for several trials but only been accepted to four. My teenaged children were in a couple. At the time, pharmaceutical companies wanted to know how meds were tolerated by younger people and women, so they were actively looking for those populations for their studies. By being in a clinical trial, I found out I had a disease I would probably not have discovered for quite a while.

Another way to look is to go read the bulletin boards at a research hospital or a medical school. Some have offices where you can call. I also looked under "Research" in the Yellow Pages. I now have about a dozen of the research centers' phone numbers listed in my phone. They say to call every few weeks, but, most of the time, I just wait until they email or write to me because I am so busy. Sometimes they'll call me to ask if I am on the same medications because I might qualify.

I think the pay is usually about $35 or $75 per visit, or $200 a study of a few weeks, or something like that. I think one paid mileage from outside the city. I have been given equipment such as blood pressure monitors and a device that measures whether you can take a good breath when you are having an allergy problem. The medical care is related to what they are studying, and, if the doctor finds something else, you will be referred back to your regular doctor to be sent to a specialist. The participant also learns more about medical procedures and new evaluations that have come out, especially if she/he asks questions and pays attention to what the nurses are doing.

I have a neighbor who participated in a week-long sleep-in study for male diabetics with depression and sleeplessness. He was paid $1,500. One of the local research companies specializes in stays of that length. When a person stays, their exercise, diet and meds can be more strictly controlled. When I tried to get in one one time, they told me that they would even do searches for hidden food. It's a very nice building with pretty landscaping in front. I could imagine finishing a good book during that stay! I never was accepted.

There is a study that the National Institutes of Health and the Centers for Disease Control do every year or so starting in about February where they get a consensus of what the American public's health is like. It is the same study that tells doctors whether your baby is growing at the correct rate. I went for the portion that tests their computers to see if they were recording the information correctly. They looked in my mouth, measured my back, etc. I was paid $100 for about an hour of that. To this day, I still don't know how the company that called me got my name, but they recently referred me to another study. Unfortunately, I didn't fit into the age range.

Just be very careful before signing up for any trial for medications. Pharma companies are not held liable for pretty much anything. Even if you die or are permanently damaged doing the trial, they will not pay any compensation because you will have signed a waiver, they will say you were a willing volunteer and/or say that there is no way to prove the death/damage was due to their product.

If the study is for a chronic disease that you have, you may not be given meds, but a placebo. This could cause further health problems. If you do not have health insurance and some disease is discovered/caused in the course of the trial, you may not be able to get coverage for that illness in the future.

While that is true and sounds really scary, the reality on most of these is that the later phase trials are what is usually seen. In many/most cases the FDA has already given preliminary approval for the drugs after extensive animal testing and lab work that would indicate safety of the product. Certainly if you have a chronic disease for which you MUST be taking a medication the clinical studies folks are responsible enough not to have you stop taking your meds. And yes, they are looking both for effectiveness as well as side effects and likely side effects are already known and disclosed in the paperwork along with an emergency phone number that is 'live' 24/7 if you have any side effects or reactions or some symptoms you think even might be associated with the materials given.

The couple of studies I have been in have monitored me very closely, I am confident that I was well informed of the risks involved as well as the possible side effects and things to watch for. There was nothing 'mad scientist' about the process. These were thoughtful, concerned people who were grateful you were willing to help and very interested in your wellbeing. I had to laugh because I was encouraged to call with ANYTHING beyond a splinter and even with that if it got infected.

I tend to lean more with Gloria on this topic. After having been an HR director at a startup (but already gone public!) biotech company, I now have some personal insight into the process of FDA approval I wouldn't not have otherwise.

On the whole, the FDA does a good job with the drug approval process, attempting to balance curative and preventative medical products with user risk. However, the Pharma business is huge, it takes billions of dollars and 9-10 years of development work to bring a product to market; *many* will never get to market through development issues, pre-trial results, and phase 1 and 2 trial results. Some will withdraw on their own, others the FDA will kick back and say no on. However, the big money interests there do not always fully disclose, and the FDA does not always fully investigate; the result is that some number of drugs do make it to market that are risky (IMHO-YMMV) and result in lawsuits and drugs being pulled from the market. I am leery enough of that to not want to do anything pre-release, even though I agree with Flash that the care one receives when participating is extraordinary.