Research Study Participants Make Money and Help Science

Research studies like Benchmark in Fort Worth, TX provide patients with investigational medication, clinical lab work, and all study-related drugs free of charge in addition to compensating them monetarily.

Benchmark Research, founded in 1997, has offices also in Austin, San Angelo, San Francisco, and New Orleans. Fort Worth's office was established eight years ago, Austin in 1998, An Angelo in 1999, San Francisco in 2003, and New Orleans just this year.

The company has over 80 members; 18 principal investigators; over 16 sub investigators; over 30 full-time research coordinators/study nurses at six sites; five full-time patient recruitment specialists at a call center; 11 full-time executive staff; advertising, business development, training, public relations, budget/contract negotiations, and supervisory.

"An allergy trial that pays $250 to the patients would include a free allergy skin test whereas a $400 diabetes study would provide insulin and glucose and full lipid profiles," said Jason Roth, associate director of business development for Benchmark. "We conduct studies for a variety of health conditions."

With the recent developments in the Hurricane Katrina crisis, Roth said Benchmark fully intends to re-open their operation in New Orleans and gain the support of the pharmaceutical companies to help rebuild the city.

Roth said Benchmark does studies that aim to find safe and more effective medications to treat a variety of indications including common colds, depression, diabetes, HIV, allergies, overactive bladder, anxiety, infertility, chronic and low back pain, high blood pressure, cold sores, STDs, osteoarthritis, bipolar disorder, and others. They also manage preventative clinical trials such as contraceptive, smoking cessation, and vaccine studies (flu, smallpox, herpes, HPV, and others).

"We aim to excel in providing the best health care we can to patients while ensuring ethical trial conduct and providing the FDA and pharmaceutical industry with high quality, accurate data," said Roth.

Benchmark sponsors numerous public, private, and government health events including state employee health days, corporate, and community health fairs.

Lately the company has given extensive support and aid in the Katrina Relief in New Orleans. In addition to donating money, supplies, and resources they have successfully relocated their New Orleans team and their families/friends to other Benchmark site locations.

Benchmark was founded by Mark Lacy and Scott Barrett.

To see which studies the company is currently conducting, call 800-369-2875 or go to benchmarkresearch.net on the web.

"There are a lot of research sites in the industry," said Roth. "Benchmark sites are unique in that although they operate independently of one another in trial conduct, they are united by internal processes that make them so successful. We aim to offer the best patient care that we can. Moreover, our centralized patient recruitment and retention center offers patients a toll-free number for study information, pre-screening, visit reminder phone calls, and rescheduling of visits within the study visit windows. Our advertising team is highly skilled in choosing the correct media source to reach the correct patient populations. All of our investigators and study nurses are dedicated to making each trial a success for the patient and client. Finally, our executive team offers guidance and support in all aspects of what we do."

Roth offers this advice for new and current business owners: "Make sure that you do and accomplish everything you commit to. Honesty and accountability are the only true way to earn the respect of your client or customer."