Professional patients (unabridged).

Plus an AMA about clinical trials.

Today, I had the honor of being published in The Free Press. You can read the piece here:

The Humans Who Live as Lab Rats

There was a lot of interest about specifics—below the cut you’ll find the unabridged piece. Also happy to answer any lingering questions in the comments section.

Raighne Hogan was being shuttled back to his home in Albany Park, Chicago in the back of a van with no seats. He and a driftwood sculptor, the man driving the van, had met while at a “first-in-human” Phase I clinical trial for what Raighne described as “essentially a reformulation of Paxlovid.” Before anyone received a dosage of the medication, the drug sponsor called and halted drug administration with no explanation beyond stop.

Shortly after, Raighne and the other participants were dismissed. Raighne’s feeling about it was, “Doesn’t seem—uh—I mean—I can only imagine there was an issue with the drug.” Over all, he was non-plussed. No, this wasn’t good—and it probably would have been even worse had they stopped mid-trial after people had received a dose—but after dozens of studies, he understood that this was just how these things go. Sometimes there’s a problem with the drug. Sometimes the drug causes a problem in you.

It wasn’t the first time something like this had happened, but it was the first time it had been caught this early. During another study, he had been one of the first in a group of ten humans to test a drug–these types of trials are appropriately called “first-in-human.” Early on, he got an EKG back that, in his words, made it look like his “heart was too big for his body.”