Complaint Review: GWU Clinical Trial HIV Prevention Study - Washington District of Columbia

Dear Dr. Manya Magnus:

I am writing this email to you to express some of my concerns that I with the George Washington University Hospital Clinical Trial Study to Prevent HIV Transmission in at risk men who have sex with men and at risk women(HPTN069) Version 3.0 1/3/13 DAIDS Document ID:  11789. My concerns are as follows:

1.       Too expensive for me to participate. I cannot afford to come all the way from Anacostia to GW without the proper transportation and nutrition compensation. I have to sit for 1 and hour without any breaks or nourishments.  The $5.00 Metro bus Card you give me for my next appointment is not enough to get to GW and back home. I have to pay $170 on a W bus from my house to MLK, jr Blvd to the Anacostia , then pay $3.05 to get to Foggy Bottom

2.       I am an ideal candidate for the Study. I am HIV Negative. I have had unprotected sex with men for years, as well as at risk women. What are the benefits for me? I do not have a Lover or Partner who is HIV that I need to prevent catching the virus.

3.      Why would I take antiviral cocktail to experience the same symptoms as someone who is HIV Positive: headaches, depression, dizziness, etc?

4.      I am expected to be ready to receive 200-330 text messages from GW over the course of the Year; The will raise my cell phone bill sky high.

5.      False advertisement. I was under the impression that I would be compensated my $50.00 at each session. I signed my life away in the first session(I signed seven consent forms to enrolled in the study and you gave me one $5.00 Metro Rail to get back to the next session which was not enough. In my Second Session which did not give me my %50.00 Gift care, you drew nine (9) tubes of my blood and did not even give me a cookie to get my energy back. I have been called by Amy to cancel my Third appointment when I was supposed to start receiving my %50.00 it is just a lot of n around for the participants and much too expensive.

6.      Why are youll going to keep my blood even after the study is over to do research on it as you please.

7.      It seems that GW only wanted to get my 9 tubes of blood; then look for ways to disqualify me from the Study.

8.      Time consuming- I had to give up my job search in order to attend the last two sessions. I am currently unemployed.

9.      You did not respond to me in a timely fashion. I call you before my second appointment and told you that I wanted to meet with you face-to-face either before or after my appointment. I also talked with your staff about some of my concerns as well.

10.     Have youll undebided the HIV Prevention Clinical Trial Study? The Clinical Trials Study is being conducted in the riches country in the World and white people are in charge; you mean to tell me that you cannot compensate participants to their satisfaction to help prevent, find a cure, or a vaccination. Amy told me that youll did not have enough money to make the Study, so youll have to use word of Mouth.

In summary, I would like to participate in the Study; however, your protocol does not make it feasible, accessible, affordable, and convenient. In other words, your study is not user friendly.

I like youll and I hope youll dont take this personal.

Please dont go getting mad at me for speaking my mine and trying to help youll get on the right path.

My contact phone number is 202-834-9683; my email address is [email protected]

Respectively,
James M****
4/11/13