Ordering drug study

[cybergollum]

Is there a theoretical possibility for individual who is not rich and rather poor but quite an enthusiastic to suggest or, if it is not cost really much, to order and fund a little (as little as possible) specialized research of some drug? For example, to find is specific drug neurotoxic and if yes to understand approximate mechanism why (and maybe even to get the answer is there a way to protect brain from harm) - something like mentioned research in this post.

Does such possibility exist for research drugs (not forbidden in country where that study will be ordered) at least? What about if this drug is forbidden - in this case it is almost impossible to do anything if you haven't proper contacts in government?

Btw, I mean not such research that needed to be published and become popular to prove anyone anything but rather for satisfying one's curiosity. If private research will cost less this option will be preferable.

PS: I am not sure that this thread should be here, so don't punish me for misunderstanding forum structure, okay? %)

 

[sekio]

Does such possibility exist for research drugs (not forbidden in country where that study will be ordered) at least? What about if this drug is forbidden - in this case it is almost impossible to do anything if you haven't proper contacts in government?

Unless you're good friends with toxicologists at a university or can otherwise bribe and cheat your way into a study, there's pretty much no chance people are going to do tox studies for you out of the goodness of their hearts.

 

[nAON]

Pretty sure there are extremely specific and strict laws regarding the context under which a person can put unknown drugs into animals to see what happens

 

[endotropic]

Well honestly if you have a couple hundred thousand dollars US to throw at the problem I can't imagine many established researchers would turn you down. It would have to be someone licensed to do this sort of work anyways, and they would have to get something out of it too (e.g. publications), but with that kind of money you would find someone to take it on.

That scenario happens from time to time with extremely rare, understudied disorders. Someone will come in and donate their life savings to a research institution to get some critical preliminary research done.

I don't think you could get something like that done cheaply though, not if you want a meaningful answer. Think in the order of 10's of thousands for a cell study, 10x that for rodent, and 10x that again for primate.

 

[dopamimetic]

I'd love to have the ability for advanced hobbyists to "rent a lab" for doing research on cell cultures etc. out of curiosity and interest - kinda like there are DIY car repair stations but regarding our drug war oriented legislation, I guess this will stay a dream.

Everything connected with medicine, science, drugs, chemistry etc. has that academic only stigma to it and the masses have to be protected from..

 

[cybergollum]

I see. Sadly to hear but I expected answers like these. So whatever.

Why I thought there could exist some services - because there already labs which offer private analyzes of substances, right? And there labs which do custom syntheses. I understand that testing drugs on cells/animals and collecting data with sequential processing of it is more complicated in many ways but... there were some little hope I guess now it's gone.

Thanks for answers.
Anyway, I think someday prices will fall and number of possibilities for ordinary people to push the science (without expending excessive amount of resources) will rise.

 

[endotropic]

Why I thought there could exist some services - because there already labs which offer private analyzes of substances, right? And there labs which do custom syntheses. I understand that testing drugs on cells/animals and collecting data with sequential processing of it is more complicated in many ways but... there were some little hope I guess now it's gone.

Thanks for answers.
Anyway, I think someday prices will fall and number of possibilities for ordinary people to push the science (without expending excessive amount of resources) will rise.

The services you're talking about are primarily chemical, it's when you add a biological component to it that the cost skyrockets. The problem with biological screening is that you're always trying to model what happens to a human - without using a human.

So when you add your stimulant to a dish full of cells - and the cells don't die - did they survive because your chemical is safe, or because you're using the wrong model? Or the wrong conditions? So to really answer the question you have to play around with all sorts of relevant conditions, different types of cells, different species, etc.

If you had one specific assay you wanted done with predetermined conditions it would be a lot cheaper and easier, but to thoroughly answer the question "is it neurotoxic?" you have to try a lot of different things.

 

[serotonin2A]

It is possible to do what you are asking if you pay for the research to be done. You would have to find a lab or company that already does that type of work. The price would depend on exactly what you want to have done, but you should anticipate paying between $50,000 and $200,000. Note that this price is for in vivo animal work, not work in humans.