Some Find Big Bucks In Medical Trials

Many Web sites offer cash in exchange for participation in clinical trials.

The trials are easy to find in Columbus, 10TV's Andrea Cambern reported.

"There are some patients who could get hundreds or a thousand dollars a year or more by doing something like this," Columbus Clinical Research Director Dr. Samir Arora said.

Typically, the more visits to test centers, the more money volunteers can make.

"It could vary from $40 to $100 per visit," Arora said.

The process is rarely that simple. Arora said that most volunteers do not come for the money, but for help with a medical problem.

Drug companies typically seek volunteers who suffer from medical ailments. Joyce Fout volunteered for a trial because she had severe knee pain.

"I came up here and talked to them," said Fout. "They said if they had anything coming up with knees, they'd call me."

Like all volunteers, Fout was carefully screened and had to supply medical records to prove that she actually had a medical condition. She also had to sign a lengthy consent form that outlined every visit and every adverse event that could occur.

Once accepted into a trial, volunteers might get shots or pills and are sometimes asked to stay overnight.

The medical care is provided for free, which draws in many volunteers.

"With the economy, we do see some more people who are having trouble getting their medication, who come and look for us," said Arora.

For many, money is not the issue.

"Money is not even part of the thought process," Carolyn Whittington, a clinical trial patient said.

Whittington has a disease that does not have a known cure, so she volunteers for clinical trials at The Ohio State University Medical Center.

Whittington's participation is unpaid. She makes the weekly hour long drive from her home in Clinton County.

"We just going to do what we need to do," Whittington said. "If not for me, but for other people."

Dr. Rebecca Jackson heads the office that oversees all clinical trials at The Ohio State University Medical Center, she said that it is unusual for people to volunteer for anything but altruistic reasons.

Jackson said that many trials pay for little more than parking and lunch.

"It is a reimbursement for expenses and time and effort," said Jackson. "It is not a payment for participation."

The medical center is always looking for more volunteers and grateful for those who help.

"Advances in science won't move forward if you don't participate and if you aren't part of that answer," Jackson said.

Private centers generally pay more money than universities.

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