Make Money By Being A Human Guinea Pig

There's a unique new way that some enterprising people are earning thousands of dollars of pocket money – and no, it's not as a secret shopper or stay-at-home blogger.

Tucked away in a part of Perth, in a building most people don't know exists, Stephen Hughes d'Aeth offers himself up for human testing – and he earns big dollars doing it.

He's a regular at Linear Clinical Research, where he has participated in more than 20 clinical studies into drugs for ailments including Ross River virus, heart problems and arthritis.

Last year Mr Hughes d'Aeth earned $9000 as a human guinea pig. Source: 7 News

The 33-year-old from High Wycombe says last year he made about $9000 from being a human guinea pig.

Almost anyone is able to apply.

"Once someone's evaluated the safety of a potential new therapy or drug through animal studies, they get to a point where they need to test that in a human, and that's the kind of study that we do," Linear CEO Dr Michael Winlo explains.

Once it's been ticked off by an accredited ethics committee, Linear works out what a drug's safe-dosing range is.

You can earn thousands of dollars by becoming a medical trial 'guinea pig'. Source: 7 News

It is set up like a hospital ward and run by doctors and nurses.

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"The only real side-effects I've had was slight headaches and a bit of vomiting on one one study," Mr Hughes-d'Aeth said.

The big business of making medicine takes time. Once a trial is finished, there's still a lengthy process before a drug gets to market.

In eight years of operation Linear has helped create a drug to treat lung cancer, another for knee arthritis, even one for HIV.

Stephen Hughes d'Aeth has participated in more than 20 clinical studies. Source: 7 News

"We're the only one in Western Australia, we're one of five in all of Australia, and one of only a handful really around the world," Dr Winlo said.

Linear is currently recruiting test patients for auto-immune disease medication, pain and itch relief, and malaria treatment.

Details are available on their website.