Healthy Skepticism Library item: 15478

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Publication type: news

Perez Tobias S.
Participants in medical trials can earn money, get free care
The Witchita Eagle 2009 Apr 24
http://www.kansas.com/196/story/770145.html

Full text:

Sometimes Julie Elder’s patients need more lab tests, medications or medical supplies than they can afford. That’s when she checks her list of clinical trials.

“For a lot of patients, trials are a good way to get lab work covered, or medications, or supplies for monitoring diabetes or other chronic conditions,” said Elder, a physician at GraceMed Health Clinic in Wichita.

“A lot are very receptive to it because of the perks. They realize it’s going to make management of their condition more affordable.”

With the economy suffering and millions uninsured, the lure of volunteering for medical research is growing, some doctors and researchers say.

Payments to participate in clinical trials often are modest — $25 to $75 per visit to cover travel, time or inconvenience. But the cash can be dwarfed by the value of free medical care — care that could otherwise cost hundreds or thousands of dollars.

Craig Plank, director of business development for the Clinical Research Institute in Wichita, said he doesn’t have numbers to show more queries from people who have lost jobs or can’t afford insurance.

But “we are seeing an increase overall,” he said. “We haven’t had any trouble recruiting studies lately.”

Hundreds of trials

Patty Reighard, a 55-year-old former hairstylist, recently enrolled in a Wichita Clinic trial to test an injectable medication for diabetes.

She visits weekly with doctors who monitor her glucose levels, blood pressure and more. After each visit, she gets a check for $40.

Though her medical care is covered by federal disability insurance, Reighard said she can see why some uninsured or underinsured people would look to clinical trials to help finance medical costs.

“I feel very safe…. They take good care of you,” she said. “I’m just hoping that whatever research is done provides some kind of help or cure for diabetes.”

More than 50,000 clinical trials are taking place in the United States, according to the nonprofit Center for Information & Study on Clinical Research Participation.

Searches through the center’s database and on www.clinicaltrials.gov — an arm of the U.S. National Institutes of Health — showed hundreds of trials in Kansas. Conditions being researched include cancer, heart disease, arthritis, acne and depression.

Conscientious, rigorous

The Clinical Research Institute, which is affiliated with the University of Kansas School of Medicine-Wichita, recruits participants for studies on depression, schizophrenia, Alzheimer’s disease and more. It also looks for healthy volunteers for drug safety tests.

“Some people would certainly look at those (clinical trials) and say, ‘I’m not willing to take that risk,’ “ Plank said. “Others will say, ‘This is a source of income for me… or a way to get some needed treatment.’ “

Alan Burch, an aircraft company manager, enrolled in a study at Heartland Research Associates after seeing an ad in Active Aging magazine. He is testing an ointment aimed at preventing precancerous skin spots.

“I hoped it might be something that would take care of the problem, something new or different,” Burch said. “And they offered a small amount of compensation, so I thought, ‘Why not?’ “

He has participated in a few studies before, including one for high blood pressure.

“My impression of all of them I’ve done is that they are concerned about the people in the studies, and they are very conscientious and very rigorous,” Burch said.

Professional lab rat

Burch’s $25-per-visit stipend from the skin study is pennies compared to what some volunteers get for trials that require stays at a clinic for a night, several days or longer.

PRA International in Lenexa is recruiting healthy adults for a pain medication study that pays $3,500. It requires four three-night stays and five follow-up visits.

Quintiles, a clinic in Overland Park, pays volunteers as much as $8,000 per study and provides food, lodging (a hospital bed), large-screen televisions, video games and wi-fi.

“It’s kind of like summer camp, except you get stabbed by a needle every so often,” says Paul Clough, a self-described professional lab rat from Austin.

For the past five years, Clough has made clinical trials his full-time gig. His Web site, Just Another Lab Rat (www.jalr.org), explains how and where to volunteer.

Clough says he makes “enough to get by” — about $28,000 last year — by signing up for medical trials. He has tested cholesterol-lowering drugs, HIV and hepatitis C treatments and some over-the-counter medications. So far the only adverse reactions have been headaches, diarrhea and a skin rash.

“A lot of people who are in between jobs do this as a means to make ends meet,” he said. “It’s a unique way to make money.”

Misconceptions

Greg Rockers, clinical research manager for the Wichita Clinic, said jokes about human lab rats can lead to misconceptions about the safety of clinical trials.

In fact, he said, patients’ care while enrolled in trials often exceeds what they get under the care of a primary care physician.

“We do a lot of education with these patients…. A typical visit is probably a couple of hours,” he said.

Depending on the type and duration of a study, doctors perform physicals, EKGs, X-rays, blood work and more, he said, and supply medications and equipment such as glucose-monitoring machines.

“We don’t ever want the money to be the inducement, but certainly it helps,” Rockers said. “Hopefully (they participate) because they have a vested interest in seeing this through, because they have that disease or condition.”

Trials can last a couple months or several years. For financially strapped patients, even short-term studies can “get their foot in the door as far as what’s going to work well for them,” said Elder, the GraceMed doctor.

“Afterward, they might qualify for prescription assistance programs. If they’re doing well on something, we’d want to continue that.”

Elder said safety-net clinics like hers referred patients to clinical trials long before the recession. But the more the economy tanks, the more she thinks people will consider medical research.

“We do anticipate with this hit on the economy that our numbers are going to be up,” she said. “Demand is going to be greater if people lose benefits and insurance. It’s definitely happening.”