Payments for clinical research trial volunteers can reach into the thousands depending on the study
Hundreds of Australians are earning a few extra bucks by volunteering in clinical research trials. THIS IS HOW YOU CAN TOO.
QLD News
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The father-of-four was blindfolded before the unknown substance was injected into his arm.
“They were counting down as you had a specific dosing time,” he said.
“Everything was very regimented.”
The 44-year-old Brisbane man, who asked not to be named, is one of hundreds of Australians who been paid for their time as human guinea pigs in medical clinical studies in the past year.
The trials, which have three phases, are often the first time a new drug has been tested in humans.
Although the 44-year-old blindfolded man – who was paid $2300 for his time – was part of a novel coronavirus vaccine study, several universities, hospitals, or private organisations have already conducted, or are recruiting now, for other, unrelated clinical trials and are on the hunt for both adult and child volunteers.
Some of the topics being studied in Brisbane range from promising new treatments for auto-immune diseases such as atopic dermatitis, Crohn’s disease, Cutaneous Systemic Sclerosis to improving medical devices via a peripheral catheter trial.
Griffith University is seeking adults over 50 to participate in a phase three trial testing an investigational medication for Giant Cell Arteritis while the University of Queensland is looking for children for a national study into early childhood sleeping patterns.
In the past a private company has even undertaken a children’s trial to see if a specific type of herbal medicine could help chronic bed wetters stay dry.
Payment for a volunteers time can vary from a $50 gift card or up to $10,000 depending on a variety of factors, including the level of commitment required and if inpatient stays are needed.
In the past eight months in Brisbane alone, private research company Nucleus Network provided up to $5100 in reimbursement to volunteers between the ages of 25 to 45 who participated in an osteoporosis study, and $4700 to volunteers aged between 17 and 30 who helped investigate a potential new treatment for diseases related to the complement alternative pathway, part of the body’s immune system.
Some volunteers can be reimbursed up to $480 per day.
Medical Director Paul Griffin, 43, said the Nucleus Network – based at the Royal Brisbane and Women’s Hospital in Herston – was often hired by universities, small biotechnology and large pharmaceutical companies to conduct trials, especially phase one or ‘first in human’ studies.
Phase one trials are the first time a drug has been tried in healthy humans after successfully completing animal testing.
Dr Griffin said although a broad cross section of volunteers was needed depending on several factors – including which out of the three main phases a trial fell into – university students, backpackers and other travellers were often the most common demographic to volunteer for clinical trials.
“Though it depends on what sort of trials and what sort of participants we want,” he said.
“Especially if it’s a really topical product, for example, when we studied ebola vaccines, and similarly with Covid-19 vaccines, we had a bit more interest from healthcare workers.”
Prior to 2020s pandemic lockdown, the most recent data available found that clinical trial activity in Australia had increased, with the number of new studies registered each year rising from 725 in 2006 to 1,303 in 2015.
The data, revealed in a report titled The Clinical Trials Landscape in Australia 2006-2015 and published in December 2017, also stated 5.2 million people had participated in Australian clinical trials between 2006 to 2015.
Although thousands register for trials, only hundreds are chosen.
The pandemic created more awareness of trials with 12,740 people registering for the UQ COVID-19 vaccine study in August, up from 1591 registrations for unrelated trials a month earlier, according to Nucleus Network data.
Only 599 volunteers were approved for different trials in Brisbane in 2020, with 368 people already participating in studies through the Nucleaus Network since January.
Kristof Boot, founding director of Quality Clinical Research, a Gold Coast-based contract research organisation, said most studies fell under the banner of academic research or commercial trials.
“In phase one of a trial, young, healthy people are generally recruited,” he said.
“Phase two and three you are running studies among inpatient populations.
“Phase three is your last stage before a drug or a therapeutic device is approved for the market.”
Mr Boot, 34, said every clinical trial in Australia had to be registered with the Australian New Zealand Clinical Trials Registry.
Some, run in conjunction with global studies, are also registered on clinicalregistries.gov
“If I were a patient looking for clinical trials I’d start there,” he said.
“You can see what centres are participating and reach out
“Or you could talk to my GP to see if they know of any trials in your area.”
Dr Griffin said while some volunteers were motivated by the payments, others were simply altruistic, especially if they had a relative who had the condition being researched.
“We see a really big range of people participating. For some people the payment is a big part of that, but even outside of Covid and ebola vaccines, people to do have an element of altruism for showing up,” he said.
The UQ Associate Professor said COVID-19 was an example of why clinical trials were needed.
“There’s no new medicine vaccine without clinical trials,” he said.
“We only use new medicines or vaccines unless the data supports it. Every vaccine drug, starts its journey with a clinical trial.
“It’s vitally important it’s a critical step for drug and vaccine development.”
WAYS TO FIND OUT IF THERE’S A CLINICAL TRIAL RECRUITING NEAR YOU:
■ Contact a local universities in your area
■ Visit the Nucleus Network at nucleusnetwork.com.au (offices in Brisbane, Melbourne and Minnesota, USA).
■ Visit the Australia New Zealand Clinical Trials Registry (ANZCTR)
at anzctr.org.au
■ Visit Australian Clinical Trials at australianclinicaltrials.gov.au
■ Visit clinicaltrials.gov (a US site that lists clinical trials in the US and other countries, including Australia) at clinicaltrials.gov
■ Ask your GP if they are aware of any trials in the area
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