The first time I heard about being able to get paid of medical trials was when I had just finished my university degree. I was working as a tour guide for the summer trying to earn enough cash to start paying off my student debts.
A number of my friends and colleagues told me about the large sums of money they were making by volunteering for medical research trials at a nearby clinical research unit. They told me about getting paid thousands of pounds for taking part in these trials. It seemed like an opportunity too good to miss out on.
I got the details of the clinical research unit from my friends and contacted them. I was sent an application pack with numerous forms to fill in detailing things such as my health and medical history any allergies that I had, next of kin details and the details of my GP plus a consent form to permit them access to my medical history. All of this information is required by the clinical research units because they have to know your medical history to ensure that they are only testing on healthy volunteers who don't have conditions that could be aggravated by the new drugs that they are testing.
After filling in all the details required, I returned the forms to the address supplied and wondered how long it would be before I heard anything. Being the impatient young man that I was, I decided to apply to both of the medical research units based near where I lived just in case I got rejected by one or found out that one was better than the other. I got a letter from them after they had been through my forms and processed all of the information. I was being asked to go to the unit for a comprehensive medical check up to make sure I was fit and healthy enough to be a volunteer.
I was subjected to numerous blood tests (don't take part in medical trials if you are afraid of needles!), had a heart monitor attached to me and at one unit they went as far as testing my eye sight, lung capacity and eye pressure (high eye pressure is one warning sign of glaucoma). All of the tests were to make sure that I was in good health and didn't have any undiagnosed problems that could be an issue if I took part in the drug trials. It was reassuring to know that I was getting the kind of free health check you would never normally expect to receive (especially at my age) unless they thought there was something really wrong with you!
I was rejected by one of the units because my eye pressure was higher than the limits they allowed. The other unit hadn't even tested for this and having passed all of their tests I was accepted as a volunteer to be eligible to take part in paid medical trials.
After I was told that I had successfully registered as a medical research volunteer I had to wait a while to receive the details of the first trial that they were recruiting for since I had signed up. I received an information pack that included more forms to sign and fill in, details of the drug being researched, side effects that they were expecting, when the trial would take place, when the screening dates where and (most importantly to me, let's be honest about this) the amount of money I would get paid for successfully taking part in the trial.
Even though I had undergone a medical check up to be accepted as a volunteer you still have to go through another one before each trial that you volunteer for. Despite being sent the details of this trial and going for the medical I was subsequently rejected based on my prior medical history. I don't remember whether it was an allergy that I had or an existing medical condition but they decided that something like that meant I couldn't take part. This actually happened to me several times, being sent details of trials, going for a screening then being told the same thing - I couldn't take part because of my medical history. I got very frustrated by this as I felt they were wasting my time sending me details of trials if they knew from my records that they were going to reject me and after this happened a few times I complained.
Something must have changed over the years because eventually I was successful in getting accepted onto a trial. It didn't involve any overnight stays and it wasn't a new drug being tested so perhaps that's what made the difference. Anyway, it felt like a victory to me, I got paid over 500 for taking part and more importantly than that after that I wasn't rejected for any more of the trials I applied for, allowing me to take part in several more and make lots of money over the next few years.
I eventually reapplied to the other research unit as well (I think because I hadn't heard anything from the one place for a while) and didn't have any problems with my eye pressure the second time around. By being determined and not giving up I had managed to become a volunteer on the panels of not one but two medical research units against the odds.
A number of my friends and colleagues told me about the large sums of money they were making by volunteering for medical research trials at a nearby clinical research unit. They told me about getting paid thousands of pounds for taking part in these trials. It seemed like an opportunity too good to miss out on.
I got the details of the clinical research unit from my friends and contacted them. I was sent an application pack with numerous forms to fill in detailing things such as my health and medical history any allergies that I had, next of kin details and the details of my GP plus a consent form to permit them access to my medical history. All of this information is required by the clinical research units because they have to know your medical history to ensure that they are only testing on healthy volunteers who don't have conditions that could be aggravated by the new drugs that they are testing.
After filling in all the details required, I returned the forms to the address supplied and wondered how long it would be before I heard anything. Being the impatient young man that I was, I decided to apply to both of the medical research units based near where I lived just in case I got rejected by one or found out that one was better than the other. I got a letter from them after they had been through my forms and processed all of the information. I was being asked to go to the unit for a comprehensive medical check up to make sure I was fit and healthy enough to be a volunteer.
I was subjected to numerous blood tests (don't take part in medical trials if you are afraid of needles!), had a heart monitor attached to me and at one unit they went as far as testing my eye sight, lung capacity and eye pressure (high eye pressure is one warning sign of glaucoma). All of the tests were to make sure that I was in good health and didn't have any undiagnosed problems that could be an issue if I took part in the drug trials. It was reassuring to know that I was getting the kind of free health check you would never normally expect to receive (especially at my age) unless they thought there was something really wrong with you!
I was rejected by one of the units because my eye pressure was higher than the limits they allowed. The other unit hadn't even tested for this and having passed all of their tests I was accepted as a volunteer to be eligible to take part in paid medical trials.
After I was told that I had successfully registered as a medical research volunteer I had to wait a while to receive the details of the first trial that they were recruiting for since I had signed up. I received an information pack that included more forms to sign and fill in, details of the drug being researched, side effects that they were expecting, when the trial would take place, when the screening dates where and (most importantly to me, let's be honest about this) the amount of money I would get paid for successfully taking part in the trial.
Even though I had undergone a medical check up to be accepted as a volunteer you still have to go through another one before each trial that you volunteer for. Despite being sent the details of this trial and going for the medical I was subsequently rejected based on my prior medical history. I don't remember whether it was an allergy that I had or an existing medical condition but they decided that something like that meant I couldn't take part. This actually happened to me several times, being sent details of trials, going for a screening then being told the same thing - I couldn't take part because of my medical history. I got very frustrated by this as I felt they were wasting my time sending me details of trials if they knew from my records that they were going to reject me and after this happened a few times I complained.
Something must have changed over the years because eventually I was successful in getting accepted onto a trial. It didn't involve any overnight stays and it wasn't a new drug being tested so perhaps that's what made the difference. Anyway, it felt like a victory to me, I got paid over 500 for taking part and more importantly than that after that I wasn't rejected for any more of the trials I applied for, allowing me to take part in several more and make lots of money over the next few years.
I eventually reapplied to the other research unit as well (I think because I hadn't heard anything from the one place for a while) and didn't have any problems with my eye pressure the second time around. By being determined and not giving up I had managed to become a volunteer on the panels of not one but two medical research units against the odds.
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Get more information about medical trials that pay you could earn thousands of pounds by doing them. You can also get other ideas on making money from home by clicking here. Also published at Find out how to take drugs and make money from it (for science!).
