London on 15 Feb - Wednesday

 I'm going to a meeting in London on Feb 15.  The meeting is near Holborn tube station at 3pm and will probably last a couple of hours.

Would anyone like to meet up for lunch or to go round a museum/park/art gallery.

I'll arrive at Waterloo.

Medical trials

 An American friend of mine has been taking part in a medical trial of a treatment for Hepatitis C.

He's just been taken out of the trial as he's not responded well enough to the medication and apparently there is a risk of drug resistance being created if he's left on it for too long.

He's just about to find out if he was on the drug or the placebo (though given the severity of the side-effects he was experiencing, I'm pretty sure he was on the drug).

He says that the agreement he signed means that if he was on the actual drug (which he will know soon), then he will have to pay for the treatment (though it will be free if he was on the placebo).

Is it normal to have to pay to take part in trials?

I fear for him.  His health has been getting worse and worse in the time I've known him because of the Hepatitis, but the drug treatment took a terrible toll.  He was highly motivated to take part in the trial because his life expectancy is not good at all.