Meeting in the United States, in a sleep laboratory, with a student who became a volunteer guinea pig and one of the records of this specialty. As electrodes are placed on his head, he explains that he started these experiments six years ago. He spent hundreds of nights in this place. In particular, he evokes experiments for which his blood was drawn. In the beginning, he was a little scared, he did it for the money...
The senate passed a law to regulate medical experiments on human guinea pigs. Testimony against the day of a man carrying the AIDS virus who agreed to participate in these therapeutic trials. He explains "that he has nothing to lose and everything to gain" because he thus has the "possibility of having a treatment that is likely to be effective and to be the first to benefit from it". He also has the pleasure of participating in scientific research.
All new medicinal products must be tested on humans before they are marketed. A few thousand healthy volunteers regularly lend their bodies to the pharmaceutical industry for clinical trials. These volunteers sign an informed consent form, but in the event of an incident, nothing is provided. A healthy volunteer says he doesn’t smell like a guinea pig and talks about his pay. Professor Patrice JAILLON spoke about the lack of a legal framework and the risk of conviction in the event of an incident.
Each year, to advance medicine, volunteers lend themselves to experiments. This is the case of Georges Henri MILAN, 31 years old, who has been suffering from multiple sclerosis for eleven years, ready to do anything to heal. He claims to "fully claim his status as a guinea pig".
During a symposium on AIDS organized by the Institut Pasteur, Professor GIRARD announced that the first trials on AIDS vaccination man would begin in 1987. Animal models have proved inadequate and volunteers are now needed. He thinks it should not be difficult, he himself says he is ready to volunteer. His remarks are complemented by those of Professor CHERMANN, who was among the first to identify the AIDS virus and who supports this approach.
Interview with Professor Jean BERNARD, President of the National Ethics Committee, who takes a position on the problems of experimentation of drugs and therapeutics on human beings. He evokes the need to resort to "healthy volunteers", disinterested human guinea pigs acting only out of love for science.
On August 22, 1968, two speleologists, Jacques Chabert and Philippe Englender, descend into the abyss of the Olivier, near Andon, in the Alpes Maritimes, to participate in an experiment on sleep led by speleologist Michel Siffre. It is a matter of making one of the men live under a continuous light and obtaining in the other 48-hour days. Michel SIFFRE gives an account of the experience. In the laboratory, a scientist talks by telephone with one of the two guinea pigs, who testifies to his physical state and his daily life. The two men will leave the abyss in January, they will spend Christmas and New Year’s Day under the ground...
Gwenaël Robin, a mother living near Brest, is volunteering to test the preventive AIDS vaccine. She answered a call from the ANRS (National Agency for Research on AIDS). For the past year, she has been visiting Tenon Hospital in Paris, where she has been injected with a product to study the behaviour of her immune defences. She does this to help the sick, research: she is not paid and is not surrounded by AIDS patients... she only wants to fight against this disease "which does not give up".
Les essais cliniques sur des cobayes humains sont indispensables mais les volontaires se font rares surtout en France. EN 2010, une vaste campagne est donc lancée sur Internet afin de favoriser des candidatures. Interviews de Bernard Letellier, volontaire pour un essai thérapeutique et du Pr Michel Azizi, directeur du Centre d'Investigation Clinique.
The INA Galaxy 
