Have you ever wondered how people get in clinical trials? Well, you should check this out.

Are you aware of clinical trials that may be in your neighborhood? I just happened to come across this link to clinical trials.  Perhaps you are a lot more savvy than I (which would not surprise me one bit), but you can get ongoing information on these clinical trials by going to a website called Clinical Connection.

For example, there’s one in Baltimore for overweight folks being conducted at Harbor Hospital involving a new investigational medication.

In fact, if you go to this link, you will see that there are over 15 clinical trials for all types of conditions in the Baltimore area alone. If you are willing to travel 50 miles or less, there are even more in which you can enroll.

Do you have moderate or severe pain from osteoarthritis of the hip or knee?  Well Annapolis just might the place for you to visit and try out a new drug.  You have to be  over 18 years of age and according to the website, “study participants may be compensated for time and travel. All study-related care is provided at no cost and health insurance is not required to participate.”  I don’t know what “may be compensated” means – but if you are interested, check it out.

On the national level, the home page of Clinical Connection says there are 105,555 clinical trials underway – and there’s probably at least one in your neighborhood.

Do you suffer from chronic low back pain of greater than 3 months duration? That’s right – there’s a trial for you taking place at 7 locations, including California, Arizona, Florida, Washington and Nevada.

You name the condition – there just may be some free study out there waiting for you to volunteer.

These programs undoubtedly have very extensive packets of information about the study guidelines and the risks and benefits of the drug or therapy under study.  These trials are called clinical trials since the manufacturer has presumablyjumped over the hurdles of early non-clinical research in order to take the next step – how does our product work with real people?

Make sure you understand what you are signing up for before doing so.  Who knows, it may turn out that you get some real benefit from participating – hopefully you will not be a statistic in terms of adverse outcome. Just take time to understand what you are getting yourself into and what rights you are waiving.  If you’re good to go, we wish you well!

Tags: clinical trials, informed consent, Nash & Associates