New drugs and medications are being produced and released all the time, however drug development is a long and costly process. There are a lot of regulation and testing involved including testing on animals and people. Drug and Pharmaceutical companies offer payment for volunteers to test new medication during several rounds of testing, these are known as phase one, phase two, phase three etc.

The types of clinical trials you can take part in vary enormously and depending on the risk and length of trial you can make a few hundred to several thousand pounds. There are of course risks involved, as well as the “usual” potential side effects of fainting, nausea and headaches, you have to consider that these drugs are experimental so very few people will have taken them. You hear from time to time people suffering from serious health complications however these are extremely unlikely and most trials are completed without incident.

On top of the health risks, there is also the time factor you need to consider. A lot of trials will require a number of screenings, outpatient visits and overnight stays in the clinic on site.

All medical trials will have some restrictions or criteria you will need to meet in order to take part. These include age, height, weight, smoking status, if you have a certain medical condition or not, etc. They will also use control groups within the trials. These groups consist of volunteers the same as the other groups but they will be given a placebo in place of the medication. So you may end up getting paid to take nothing other than a sweet!

If you are interested in taking part in medical trials the best thing to do is register with the sites we have listed below and find out what trials they are currently offering.

Top Tip

Different institutes run trials for different drug companies. There is inherent risk with any medicines, even ones that are fully approved as people react differently to different drugs. Do your own research and register with as many reputable companies as you can. All the ones that are listed below are well established and have an excellent track record. Remember you are under no obligation to take part in any trial.

Sites to use

MHRA – All medical trials need to follow the regulations set up by the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency

Trials 4 Us – The largest clinical trial organisation in the UK.

Simbec Research – Established in 1976 it is one of Europes leading clinical research organisations

Covance Clinical Trials – One of the largest names in clinical trials offering phase one and two trials.