Clinical Trial - Do The Pros Outweigh The Cons?

Llpede5 on 27/10/2016 - 21:21
Last edited 29/10/2016 - 10:16 by 1 other user

Hi everyone !

I am trying to decide whether to participate in a Malaria Clinical trial and can't decide if the commitments of the trial are worth the payment that is received.

Essentially you get infected with Malaria and at a certain point go into confinement for 3 days (overnight) while they try a new drug to see how effective it is. At the end of the trial they give you a different drug to ensure the Malaria is gone. The commitment is about 20 days + worth of blood tests and the 3 night overnight stay. No alcohol consumption during that time either. You get paid $3000 for this.

Do you think it's worth the commitment?

I work full time but should be able to get the time off for the confinement part if I go ahead with it.

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  Savas on 27/10/2016 - 21:37

  +4

  Wtf why would you want to get malaria?

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  loulou1 on 27/10/2016 - 21:56

  +2

  No way would I be keen to participate, have you googled "Malaria complications"?

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  Vampyr on 27/10/2016 - 22:05

  +4

  I feel like $3000 isn't close to enough money for that..

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  Allan on 27/10/2016 - 22:15

  +1

  No way! Putting your life at risk to better man kind for $3000? not sure how well your body can cope with symptoms and possible side effects of drug too

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  holdenmg on 27/10/2016 - 22:26

  +1

  Hi,

  Think about this…

  If you ever want Life Insurance or Superannuation you will need to declare you had Malaria.

  It won't matter if you got it in the jungle playing Survivor or were doing the noble "Lab Rat" thing.

  I'd pass…

  • 

    altomic on 27/10/2016 - 23:52

    i think having to declare malaria needs verifying.

    there are so many "diseases" that can be easily contracted that you don't need to declare. eg. hep A + B, meningitis, salmonella, etc

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  altomic on 27/10/2016 - 22:51

  Life-threatening situations because of malaria infection with P. falciparum may include:
  Severe infection of the brain (cerebral malaria), with seizures, confusion, and increasing tiredness leading to coma and death.
  Fluid in the lungs (pulmonary edema).
  Kidney failure.
  Abnormal liver function.
  Aplastic anemia.
  etc

  • 

    holdenmg on 27/10/2016 - 23:07

    I'm fairly sure it can be all of the above too, not just the less bad of those you list. It is almost always the "etc" that is the least harmful sounding but is the worst of the worst…
    Also a big clue if the cheque is post-dated or made out to your Executor.

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  Mad Max on 27/10/2016 - 23:45

  Before you get infected with malaria you should look at selling a kidney. They pay $70-80k overseas. Then if you still need money you could get the $3k for malaria…

  PS: are you crazy? I don't know how old you are, but that body has to last you as long as you live.

  • 

    holdenmg on 28/10/2016 - 00:30

    I'm quite fond of my Kidneys. I was surprised when I had an MBA20 recently and my Doc said everything was good and I wasn't Diabetic either.

    Anyway, do you think there is any money in buying into the niche market of those marker pens that surgeons use for outlines for incisions?

    Honestly, people lying on the beach really seem to resent me drawing little outlines on their skin with a $ figure and and E-mail address for them to contact me to accept my cash offer, and I'm really not doing anything more than the Antique Dealers on https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dealers_(TV_series)

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  lpede5 on 27/10/2016 - 23:53

  Very interesting, there certainly seems to be a consensus so far. I am 23 years old, I was honestly thinking it wouldn't be that big of a deal since you get the treatment right after showing symptoms. They gave some literature about how the previous 22 trials had gone and there didn't seem to be any major issues. But in hindsight I get where you are all coming from, while the risks might be really low the consequences can be quite severe.

  • 

    altomic on 28/10/2016 - 00:39

    +2

    and at the same time, if you went to Bali tomorrow then you could contract malaria there.

    • 

      johndemonik on 24/12/2016 - 16:42

      Minus the $5000 with the holiday expenses and 3k.