Study Sponsors Can Pay Patients’ Travel Expenses: FDA

Drug and device companies can breathe easier about picking up the check for volunteers who have to travel to clinical trial sites.

An update from the Food and Drug Administration clarified that study sponsors can reimburse airfare, parking, lodging, and other travel-related costs to research subjects participating in FDA-regulated studies, such as the one on which GlaxoSmithKline is a collaborator to treat the progressive neurodegenerative disease ALS. There’s no change to FDA policy, an agency spokeswoman said in a Jan. 29 statement; rather the Jan. 25 update to the guidance Payment for Research Subjects: Information Sheet clarifies existing practice.