Overseeing trials is certainly a challenge, one often made more difficult by the volunteers themselves. During a recent visit to an Algorithme clinical trial, Maclean’s found several participants who drank alcohol and took prescription medication when both are explicitly forbidden during the testing period. Many of these participants, some who were decades-long veterans of the trade, were well versed in what the company tested for—and what it didn’t. “You learn how to say ‘no,’ ” says Anthony (not his real name), referring to Algorithme’s questionnaires over consumption of alcohol and drugs.
Anthony spent the downtime between his confinement and return visits celebrating a birthday. He was worried more about the ensuing hangover than about getting nabbed by Algorithme’s tests, which would have meant forgoing most of his $1,400 paycheque. He knows from experience that the company wouldn’t test for the booze swishing around his system. Other testers in the study were taking prescription medication—even though, like alcohol, doing so might affect Algorithme’s study results. “Nobody tests for anything except for illegal drugs, and that’s only when you first get here,” Anthony says. “Other than that, you can do what you want.”
Algorithme’s Louis Caillé defends the integrity of his firm’s research, saying people like Anthony are the exception to the rule. “We have rules to follow but we can’t enforce all the time,” he concedes. “We don’t do follow-up tests [for alcohol or drugs].”
Others still blame the media. After all, “no one died,” says Jack Corman, president of IRB Services, the independent review board contracted to review Anapharm’s testing for the ill-fated 2005 study. “There is an agenda to do harm to Anapharm and us,” Corman says without elaborating. “I think Health Canada could have done better [but] I think we did everything we could.” The clinical testing industry as a whole, Corman says, has been unfairly tarnished as a result of the TB outbreak—which he is loathe to even call an outbreak. Tales of outbreaks and half-drunk volunteers are media concoctions, Corman says, designed to blemish what is a made-in-Canada success story. “We have highly trained, highly qualified, highly ethical scientists and physicians who conduct world-class research in this country. The industry is a success for Canada, and for Montreal.”
