Healthy Volunteer — What It Means in Clinical Trials
Plain English Definition
A healthy volunteer is someone without any illness who participates in a clinical trial. Some trials — especially early Phase 1 studies — need healthy people to test whether a drug is safe before giving it to patients. Healthy volunteer trials often provide compensation for your time.
Why It Matters
If you do not have the condition being studied but want to help advance medicine, healthy volunteer trials are an option. These trials focus on safety and how the drug moves through the body, not whether it treats a disease.
Example
A listing might say: "Healthy volunteers accepted: Yes." This means you do not need to have any specific condition to participate.
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