Karimnagar: Some unemployed youth have of late got in the habit of undergoing clinical trials to make a quick buck, a majority of them being in the 30 to 40 age group. Karimnagar police say this has been happening among youth since as far back as 2006 in the old Karimnagar district, which shows that some of these men have got used to making money without work for it. In the process, they are putting their health at serious risk. Youths have been using their bodies for experiments without regret.
Agents working for pharmaceutical companies approach the youth and coax them to undergo clinical trials for money. According to some estimates, at least 400 unemployed youth from villages in old Karimnagar district have undergone clinical trials for various pharmaceutical companies in the last 20 years. Some of them have even died due to health complications.
Karimnagar police have identified 60 youth Jammikunta area who underwent clinical trials from. There were incidents where a single man underwent clinical trials for several companies at a time. In one case, a man is known to have undergone 30 clinical trials since 2006. He was an unemployed youth from Jammikunta who admitted to the police in an interaction with them.
Police found that most of those opting for the trials were lazy and not willing to work to earn a living. A pharmaceutical company usually pays between Rs 5,000 and Rs 20,000 for one sitting of a clinical. The company also bears the expenses, including travel, and stay and food if the persons has to be taken to Hyderabad or Bengaluru.
Generally, the pharmaceutical company instructs to the person undergoing trials not to consume alcohol, smoke or chewing tobacco for three months before the trial. The company also tells the client that they should not accept to undergo any trials for another drug while undergoing clinical trials for a certain drug, police said.
Surprisingly, youths sign up on an agreement letter with the pharmaceutical company and accept all the conditions they put forth. The companies even record their acceptance on video as legal proof and to claim that the youth underwent the trials on his own volition without any pressure from the company.
Among the youths the police identified as having undergone clinical trials for various drugs were Chiluveru Ashok, Chiluveru Jagan, Boga Suresh and many others from Jammikunta. One Nagaraju Vangala of Jammikutna died after he developed health complications. Some youths even suffered mental health issues and were undergoing treatment, police said.
