Covance Clinical Trials: Get Paid to Test Drugs

What is Covance Clinical Trials?

Covance Clinical Trials was a medical research firm that pays volunteers to test out new drugs and treatments. The company has since been renamed Fortrea.

How it works:

To volunteer here, you’ll need to be near one of the site’s facilities, which are in Texas, Wisconsin or Florida. And you’ll need to meet other requirements of the specific study they’re running.

Studies are running constantly and vary in duration and scope. To click here to find a Fortrea trial near you.

Covance/Fortrea Review:

Covance Clinical Trials, now Fortrea, is one of several medical research firms that run clinical trials year round. As part of that effort, the site is almost always looking for study participants. And the site is willing to pay handsomely to get you to participate. One recent study, for instance, offers payment of $6,135 for an eight-night stay and one follow-up visit. Another, offers $15,000 for a study on autoimmune disorders. This study involves 3 separate overnight stays totaling 12 nights & 10 follow-up visits.

Dorm stays

The catch? You are staying in a dorm-like setting, only have access to the meals they provide, will be subjected to blood and/or urine tests and other medical procedures for the duration.

Subject participants in Covance’s Dallas facility maintain that the food is scanty and tasteless; and that thefts are common in the facility’s parking lot and even in the facility itself. Participants also complain about the rooms being loud, uncomfortable and cold.

Side effects

Then too, the medications and treatments you are testing could have unpleasant side effects. However, the side effects are usually known before you start the study. So, read all of the literature they give you to sign to make sure you’re comfortable with the risks you’re taking. Also know that you can leave a clinical trial at any time. If you are convinced that the trial is making you sick, walk away.

Pay

Clinical trials pay in increments throughout the trial. Normally, you’ll get a payment schedule before you start. Typically, this will show that you get X amount for early-stage testing to determine whether you qualify. More for each milestone — whether that’s a test or an overnight stay. And a set amount for each follow-up visit.

This allows you to get paid for the portion of the trial that you participate in, even if you decide to walk away before the trial is complete.

Recommendations:

The money can be great, but other medical research facilities may be more comfortable. We give Covance an average Husl$core on the basis of the discomfort vs. high pay — usually more than $500 per night — and relatively light work. (You’ll be free to do your own thing most of the day.) You can sign up with Covance/Fortrea here.

If you want to be involved in medical research, we recommend that you sign up with ResearchMatch. ResearchMatch partners with dozens of hospitals and medical centers and will email you if you match a study that’s recruiting members. Those in Southern California (or who don’t mind travel), may want to check out WCCT Global also appears to be a good choice, with more comfortable surroundings and better food for overnight stays.

Also worth noting is that Covance has a “refer a friend” program that has little risk (to you), but can pay you up to $500.

Other helpful reading:

National Institute of Health on clinical trial benefits and safety

Are clinical trials worth the risk?–Science37.com

Also check out our post that goes into more detail on Volunteering for Clinical trials.

What their users say: (from Yelp):

“The situation seems to be getting better. The staff checks on us to see what we think. They’ve started keeping the contractor honest about providing what’s on the menu. Meaning the amount of food being served is now closer to adult size. The breakfast still needs work. The cereal served is a pre-packaged kid sized bowl, sausage is one thin Pattie, small egg, or 2 thin pieces of bacon. The staff is pretty awesome in general. Lots of turn over from the shut down. So a lot of learning going on. There seems to be an effort to improve how things run to some extent. Getting a bed earlier, the parking lot seems safer to park in, getting paid a little quicker.”

“I’ll recommend not driving your own vehicle if you are staying long. There are break-ins and vehicle thefts all the time. People that work in the building suffer from it too. In my 2 stays, I saw 2 break-ins, 3 pickup thefts, everything was focused on trucks. One from in front of the security guards desk, even. Covance doesn’t care. So protect yourself, they won’t.”

“After all the testing, necessary disclosures, yada yada yada it turns out I was disqualified because they had already selected enough viable participants.  There goes 4 hours of my life on a good Monday morning that I’ll never get back again.”