Japanese/ Chinese and Korean people from all backgrounds can volunteer with UK Chiken. Initially UK Chiken will make a general assessment of your health and suitability based on information provided by you. If considered suitable, we will contact you with details of any suitable forthcoming studies. If you are interested in a study we will send you for medical check to ensure that you are fit and healthy and able to participate in the specified study. Medical checks will consist of general medical checks i.e., height, weight, blood pressure etc., We do checks of our volunteers as our volunteer’s safety is of great importance to us and we therefore need to ensure that volunteers are suitable for each study. We have many volunteers who enjoy the experience that volunteering at UK Chiken offers, and repeatedly participate in our trials.

Each individual study has its own criteria and therefore this criteria will dictate what type of monitoring is undertaken at the screening medical. However, most screening examinations include taking a medical history; physical examination; vital signs (pulse, blood pressure, temperature, ECG, full blood count, blood biochemistry, urinalysis and blood tests for HIV, hepatitis B and C). If any of the results are positive the volunteer will be counselled by a doctor. With the consent of the volunteer, they will be referred back to their own GP and may not be eligible to take part in any future studies. All data is treated as highly confidential and protected by the data protection act.

All studies have to be given consent to be undertaken by an Ethics Committee in the UK. This is a committee of people from varied professions, including medicine, along with representatives of the public. The committee looks at all information for the proposed study, to ensure that previous research work and safety limits are satisfactory and that the volunteer is not being placed at any undue risk. International research is carried out to standards known as Good Clinical Practice (GCP), which involves strict control / monitoring of the study. The health of our volunteers is of great importance and if it was observed that an unacceptable side effect was developing the volunteer will be removed from a study, or stop the whole study, depending on the circumstances. We are not involved in studies where there is an unacceptable risk to human health

Some clinical trials may require volunteers to stay in a clinical research unit and some clinical trials may require no inpatient stay but outpatient visits to a said clinical research unit. Some studies are a combination of inpatient and outpatient visits. Some thought should be given to what type of study will be suitable for you, i.e. whether your lifestyle will allow you to stay as an inpatient and for how many days/nights.

Every volunteer is allowed to change their mind at any time, and will not be made to complete / start a study if they change their mind. However if a volunteer has any concerns/doubts then this is best talked about before embarking on the study.

At UK Chiken, all volunteers get paid to participate, payment depends on the on the length and type of the study. Volunteers will be given details of fees, travel expenses and study details before being asked to attend a screening visit.

Every volunteer has to have a period of at least three months after completion of a study before they can embark on another. At UK Chiken we have a lot of volunteers that do two or more clinical trials per year.

If you are a volunteer participating in an inpatient study then you will be monitored during your stay. We will liaise with each individual clinical research unit in order that there are provisions made to ensure your stay is as enjoyable as possible, i.e., TV, preferably with a Japanese channel. Time spent in a clinical research unit is also a good time to use for revision whilst being paid for your time.