Celerion, $10,450 starting late April 2021

[bob14]

Everyone who is interested in the big Celerion study in Lincoln, Nebraska (16 days, five opvs, CA29349).

In the past I've always had good relations with Celerion. I called on this one, qualified, and booked a screening for April 2nd. Be aware of my experience with them:

This study requires you get a flu vaccine two weeks before screening. I got one three weeks before screening, and sent them the documentation by email.

They require that your name and address be on the vaccination form, along with where you got the vaccine, when and what it was. That was all clearly displayed on my form.

Its a one page vaccine form, just one side of a page, and you can see all the required information clearly.

They contacted me and said my name and address are not on it. (Its clearly readable on the left hand side of the page). Despite repeated contacts, they refused to relent on this. They then actually told me to get the flu vaccine again. This is in fact illegal. When you get a flu vaccine, its entered into your state registry. You can't just walk into a location and ask for another vaccine. They won't give it to you.

So I am assuming this is some sort of shady process they are using at Celerion to cancel appointments volunteers have made.

Anyone else have this experience with them? They now have a $12,715 version which I think is the same drug, just a longer stay... CB29639

[geno]

I tried to apply for this one at the Tempe location, but they said I needed at least a 76 day (I think that's the #) washout period since my last study. I'd just gotten outta one, so that was a deal breaker.
It's a bummer they required you to be vaccinated for it.

[bob14]

The worst part is I paid $75 for a vaccine I didn't need. And getting the flu vaccine can disqualify you from other studies.

If I knew they were going to pull this I never would have bothered to call them...

Celerion is hard enough to please with their phone lottery BS.

So from now on, they are off my list.

Beware...

[vark]

celerion is a little tricky to work with. i wasted over $1000 going out there to screen for studies i didn't get into. but eventually i got in, and made over $20,000 over 5 or so studies. i might be on their do not recruit list by now, not sure.

celerion pays a referral fee just for screening, so anybody new there, drop me a line at gtbear at gmail, i'll give you my name to use as your referral, i'll send you $100 when the check clears. so far nobody has taken me up on this offer.

[idoitforthepong]

Hey Bob14 maybe too late now unless later cohorts, but do you recall any other stipulations for this study? such as if you had the flu vaccine in fall are you disqualfied? what about covid vaccine? and why the high pay (for a clinic not known to pay high) do they expose you to the flu virius?

[labrat1]

I have to be careful what I say here but I did a long-term study in Nebraska recently.
Over 29 days. I was required NOT to have had the Covid-19 vaccine. I was asked over phone during the phone screening if I had that shot and I said no and then I was told that the study requires that I not have had it (at least not recently but since the vaccine was developed sometime roughly mid to late last year it seems that anyone getting vaccinated would have happened within the past 6 months of April 2021 or so).
But for this study there was no competitive call. I had only done studies in NJ where there were competitive calls. In retrospect it was very much a smooth process with me getting into the study. I can't be sure but maybe since I fit the medical criteria they needed they were sure they were going to take me. Also in retrospect, according to what I read here, it seems that the facility might have wanted some new people. The group I was among was almost all male.
I think there were some people who had never been chosen before.

I never did a study there before.
It was high paying and yes, that is unusual. The study required that I stay in the facility without any outpatient visits. There were mostly days that there were hardly any events.

It was quite depressing there but mostly the staff I dealt with were wonderful, a lot of the other volunteers weren't. However it could have been much worse.
I was lucky in certain ways.

I am not sure what to make of some people's experiences here that they were required to get a second flu shot just to qualify for the study and that it is illegal to try and get two flu shots within only a few weeks or months of each other because people who get flu shots will have their names put in a national registry which I guess is done by the staff of the clinic or hospital where the flu shot was given.


I had never heard that before. It makes me wonder though. Regarding my most recent memory of when I have had a flu shot I went to a certain clinic and I was merely given an information paper about what to expect and why it is beneficial. I don't think I ever signed a "consent" for it. When you walk in a clinic and ask for a flu shot it is given to you out-rightly no questions asked. That has been my experience.

It seems that if you name is put in a national registry a person should be informed about it.

So now I wonder if the process can vary according to state.


I once had a flu shot in a church in which the staff of a nearby pharmacy were providing for free to people of the neighborhood. The shot was given by a pharmacist and only after I asked was I told that he was a pharmacist (not a nurse or medical assistant). I was only given a paper with some obscure information. Nothing about being put in a national registry.
I guess the Nebraska research site has to know that it is illegal to tell someone to get a flu shot a second time and if they are requiring such a thing then that may be some thing to report to the IRB.