Anyone Familiar with Covance? (approval, health, money)

[JoshB]

So I'm trying to get a little money scapped up for a road trip this summer. I thought about Covance. Has anyone on this forum ever known someone who did a study or did one themselves? Some of the studies pay big money! I don't know if there is side affects from doing the studies? Any help would be much appreciated.

[tchemgrrl]

I know some people that have worked there (on the researcher side, not on the patient side). Basically, every study they do, they're testing a new drug, or a new formulation, or a new dose. In order to get approval from the FDA, drugs need to be tested on normal healthy people. This is to determine whether there are any side effects.

Phase 1 Clinical Studies (http://www.fda.gov/cder/handbook/phase1.htm - broken link)

If the side effects are severe, that may result in the drug not going to market--but if the side effects are severe, that means that the normal healthy people starting the study may now have severe disabilities or worse. This is why it pays well, and this is why they will make you sign many, many forms which indicate that you understand the risks involved. (By the way, the payment is not usually an indication of the "danger" of the drug per se, it usually has to do with how urgently the drug company wants this drug to get to market. Pay more, and more people think it's worth it to take a week off of work to test a drug.)

On the other hand, drugs will go through EXTENSIVE testing to get to this point, including animal testing. The vast majority of people who test for drugs end up with no lasting side effects. I've been told that the people who do tests at Covance are treated pretty well. The data you provide leads to real drugs being used to help real sick people. But no one will be able to tell you what the side effects are, because you (or someone else) will be among the first humans to take that drug.

Hope that helps.

[JoshB]

Thanks tchemgrrl!