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how does a psychiatrist start a practice doing clinical trials for drug companies, and what is the pay like?
clinical trials
- Thread starter petermoss
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Are we including the lump sum they'll give you for your soul, or just an annual salary? 
I can't speak for psychiatric drug trials, but I have a close friend who is employed by a group of cardiologists (she's a pharmacist).
This group does interventional cardiology...so they have lots and lots of drug trials available to them.
They get paid enough to have their own pharmacist & nurse who does just drug study work on their patients - no other office stuff. The paperwork is overwhelming with drug trials & the time required can be immense. That is why the nurse is there - she draws all the blood samples at all the strange times (often these pts are hospitalized & get blood draws at odd hours...since the trial is not hospital run, the hospital staff doesn't draw the blood - the physcian's drug study nurse does it). The pharmacist obtains the medication, tracks the dosing, obtains data & documents it & often submits the raw data to the individual who actually writes up the results to submit back to the company. The pharmacist also has to keep track of all adverse effects both during & after the study has completed.
I don't know how much the physician himself (or herself - there is a woman in the group) gets personally.....the group is paid an amount for being a site for the study & they get paid for each participant who is enrolled. But...its enough to pay these two people. The physicians do bill for whatever they might just as they would any other patient.
In my area - SF - there is a large company which just runs drug trials. They do everything from statins, to smoking cessation adjuvants, to cardiovascular drugs, to hormone replacement therapy......Their base staff is composed of a CEO (who is a physician), a CFO (who is not), about 4 other physicians, a number of nurses, a pharmacist & one person who is devoted to just grant/drug study writing. They hire physicians as needed depending on the study. It would be interesting work, for sure.
It really is an expensive process & hard to take on solo....
This group does interventional cardiology...so they have lots and lots of drug trials available to them.
They get paid enough to have their own pharmacist & nurse who does just drug study work on their patients - no other office stuff. The paperwork is overwhelming with drug trials & the time required can be immense. That is why the nurse is there - she draws all the blood samples at all the strange times (often these pts are hospitalized & get blood draws at odd hours...since the trial is not hospital run, the hospital staff doesn't draw the blood - the physcian's drug study nurse does it). The pharmacist obtains the medication, tracks the dosing, obtains data & documents it & often submits the raw data to the individual who actually writes up the results to submit back to the company. The pharmacist also has to keep track of all adverse effects both during & after the study has completed.
I don't know how much the physician himself (or herself - there is a woman in the group) gets personally.....the group is paid an amount for being a site for the study & they get paid for each participant who is enrolled. But...its enough to pay these two people. The physicians do bill for whatever they might just as they would any other patient.
In my area - SF - there is a large company which just runs drug trials. They do everything from statins, to smoking cessation adjuvants, to cardiovascular drugs, to hormone replacement therapy......Their base staff is composed of a CEO (who is a physician), a CFO (who is not), about 4 other physicians, a number of nurses, a pharmacist & one person who is devoted to just grant/drug study writing. They hire physicians as needed depending on the study. It would be interesting work, for sure.
It really is an expensive process & hard to take on solo....
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why does everyone seem so against drug trials. how do you think the drugs you prescribe get approved. doctors and patients and others have to be willing to participate in order to get new drugs on the market. and yes, i imagine it is a big hassle for the doctors, and a bit of a risk for the patients. and drug companies reimburse accordingly and all this contributes to high drug costs. but that's life. if there weren't drug companies there wouldn't be antidepressants or anything else but psychotherapy for that matter.
so my question was more about how to set it up. do you need a research background. or can a business minded psychiatrist just call up the drug company and say 'count me in' and they make him a site for a trial? how is the reimbursement? can a psychiatrist over see it and have nurses an aprns/LCSW's do the work? etc. etc.
so my question was more about how to set it up. do you need a research background. or can a business minded psychiatrist just call up the drug company and say 'count me in' and they make him a site for a trial? how is the reimbursement? can a psychiatrist over see it and have nurses an aprns/LCSW's do the work? etc. etc.
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This is a good point, and one I make myself often.
There is a lot of controversy over doctors actively participating in and being reimbursed handsomely for participating in drug trials and having other involvement with drug companies.
Unfortunately, I don't know the answer to your question, but I'll ask some attendings that I know have been involved. I know of one in particular that makes a large amount of money from this, and doesn't seem hampered by the extra time it takes. Hopefully someone here will know more.
I do know that a physician must be in charge of the program (in this case the psychiatrist) and that most of the scut and heavy lifting is obviously done by ancillary staff.
