If you are suffering from the cold, why not get paid for it?

Don't just suffer through; contribute to research and get paid

HOUSTON – Cold season is here! Do you have a runny nose, itchy and watery eyes, a cough and a sore or scratchy throat? Well, those are symptoms of the common cold.

The common cold is a viral infection of your nose and throat, and even though it happens frequently to millions of Americans, there is still no breakthrough medication for it.  However, there is a way you can help if you do get sick this season: by participating in a clinical trial necessary to bring new medications to the market.

Cecil Fontenot, clinical research coordinator from Centex Studies Inc. stopped by our studio to tell us how you can enroll in the clinical trial the company is doing until January.

If you do get sick this season, you might as well get paid, because there is a patient stipend amount of $65 per completed visit to the clinical trial, and the process is easy.

“It’s 22 days, they would come in, sign a consent, they would talk with the doctor, have their labs drawn, a physical exam, and they be would going home with the medication and seeing us over the course of seven visits,” said Fontenot.

A medication must be approved by the Food and Drug Administration in order to be available to the average consumer.
“It does have to go through the research phase. Most of them have a placebo involved,” said Fontenot, who explained how Centex collects that important data to make that happen.

According to Fontenot, to qualify for the study, you must meet the following criteria: “Be aged at least 12 years old,  present clinical signs and symptoms consistent with the common cold, have the onset of illness less than 40 hours before enrollment in the trial, not suffer from uncontrolled diabetes mellitus, not have any immunologic disorder or be receiving immunosuppressive therapy.”

“Just come and see us and see if we can get you on the trial,” said Fontenot.

To sign up, call (281) 282-0808 or visit centexstudies.com to schedule an appointment.

Sponsored by Centex Studies, Inc.