Well, I am well and truly in the clinical trial now. I started yesterday. I got three things.
- I got a Covid test and a Covid antibody test and maybe a first dose of something that might protect me.
- I got a chance to be smug when someone asked me how my day was going. I answered, “I helped hundreds of thousands of people this morning.”
(I was underestimating. Alexa says there are ten million immunocompromised people in the United States alone.)
- I got a check. There were no checks in the fingolimod/Gilenya trial. I am appalled. It makes me feel dirty.
4 responses to “Trial: Son of Spartacus”
YAY!
And you can give the check to charity, if you want. I’ll admit, that feels weird, though, outside of big random-people trials where basically they are compensating those who enroll for their time. (that said, the medical records *did* take a lot of time. So there is that.)
(I’ll be super-curious as to your antibody status – you haven’t gotten it so far as you know yet, right?)
KC – Re antibodies – I think part of being blinded in the trial means I can’t get information until the trial stops.
Your *starting* antibody status shouldn’t matter for blinding, but yeah, probably they have “do not release the information to the patient, possibly ever” as part of the study protocol, not thinking to exempt the bits that are before any medication/placebo has been given. (in part studies often don’t released data to patients for potentially-legitimate “can’t use experimental data to treat patients because it is experimental” reasons, and part for blinding and then never bothering)
(that said, I am part of an antibody study, and their blood collection device is Not Great but on the other hand it has been fun getting the “yep, you have the antibodies for vaccines but not for having had infectiously-transmitted covid” confirmation!)
KC – Well, that would be nice to know. I’m still in that phase where I’m learning their rules.