Altasciences Screening

Again, the screening process is unnecessarily and unbearably long. People who came after me were seen first, while some who were there even before I came were not finished. It shouldn't take 4 hours to do a screening, and if it does, atleast do it on a first come first serve basis.

Do not recommend. Some staff members were nice and helpful, others were just unprofessional and belittling. They treat you like they’re doing you a favor.They also don’t take the time to properly explain the process once the trial starts, they just assume you know what to do which makes no sense.The whole thing just comes off exploitive. Unless you’re in desperate need for the money, don’t do it.(Two starts because I’ve had one positive encounter with a nurse)

BEWARE: UNSAFE (THEFT & UNPROFESSIONALISM)UPDATE 2021.08.06:Exactly 1 month has passed since I left this review. Shortly after leaving this review, I was contacted by the PR department at Altasciences. They promised to investigate the problems that I have raised. Over the next days, they would call me back to ask questions about what I experienced. Eventually, these are the conclusions that were reached:1. They would send me the referral money (A month later, I still have yet to receive this).2. Without the names of the responsible nurses, they were unable to offer any sort of solution with respect to the harm I suffered from the improper needle techniques, not even compensation.3. They reviewed the security footage & were unable to determine what happened to my wireless earphones.So basically, nothing. But at this point I really didn't expect anything different. Please be wary of Altasciences & also of other reviews on this Google listing, especially those 4 & 5 star reviews from accounts that have only ever posted one review.ORIGINAL POST:I consider myself a veteran participant at Altasciences, however I can no longer advise completing studies there. My last experience at Altasciences was a nightmare that I hope no one else has to endure. There were 2 main problems during my stay.The first was an alarming lack of proper needle technique among the nurses doing the blood draws. Because this was a non-catheter study, the blood draws had to be taken by needle stick each time. Normally this is not a problem if the nurses are competent with needles; in the best case scenario the needle stick is barely noticeable. However, somehow this time the nurses just couldn't seem to do their needle sticks without inflicting considerable pain. I was not the only participant that noticed this; a woman in my cohort told me that her arm was blue for a week after the first period of our study.Myself, I had to switch arms twice because it became unbearably painful to reuse the same needle site. One of the punctures even left a long wound (instead of a small hole). On several occasions I continued to bleed even after pressing a cotton onto the wound for 3 minutes. I also believe I was bleeding under my skin as well. While I was in the middle of my lunch, another participant drew my attention to the fact that my arm had begun to bleed again onto the floor without my having noticed.When I returned for the follow-up blood draw, the nurse did not tie the tourniquet properly and had to undo then redo the tourniquet– *while the needle was still in my arm*. This was excruciating. Having done previous non-catheter studies with an even greater number of blood draws before, it was obvious that something was very wrong here.The other issue that seriously troubled me during my stay was the apparent theft of my Bluetooth earphones. These disappeared from my table on the day of the study at some point during the blood draws. The nurses were unable to help me to find it, and furthermore it seemed as if their communication between themselves was not very good as I received conflicting answers about whether there was a lost and found. Even though the common area was monitored by multiple security cameras, they refused to check the footage.In conclusion, I have serious doubts about whether Altasciences really has a compassionate attitude towards participants despite everything that they put on the line. They don't seem to care about the personal safety of participants nor do they seem to be bothered to follow up with reported issues unless if they are related to the study drug. I have attempted several times to contact staff at different levels of management but without any success, & I am giving up now. All I can do now is warn others so that they know what they're getting into.Oh, & forget about the $100 referral bonus. I never got that either. They'll just give you the bureaucratic runaround, sending you to different offices & having the people in charge of that" supposedly calling you back but of course never actually doing so."

The staff makes it a worthwhile stay. I was very pleased by the professionalism humour and support of Alfa I believe is his name. Bald guy who is always monitoring peoples pulse along with other individuals made the time enjoyable.

First of all, I need to say I really enjoy the studies I've conducted at this site.The staff really is the best even though they're often in a lot of stress. Sadly most of them are underpaid as said on Glassdoor.The meals are adequates, simple, not really healthy. You can't expect a 5 stars meal, this is not a resort.The instalation are comfy for the volume they need to hold.The one thing that really buggs me is the degradation of some of the on site services throughout the years.The wifi, for example, has endured a ridiculous drop in speed. One can argue that when there's a lot of participant the wifi drops but it should never drop this low. It used to be a solid 550mbs down and 95mbs up. So anyone expecting a steady connection bring ethernet cables and splitters.Since on long stays internet connection is for some the only mean of distraction I would have expected more attention to this detail.

Altasciences imposes punitive measures when legitimate concerns over safety are brought up.During my last study, several participants reported bites on our bodies to the staff who did not tell us that the clinic had a bed bug infestation one month prior.Instead, all amenities were removed, access to dorms barred and only hard chairs provided to sit on for nine hours.We asked what was being pumped through large tubes into the rooms, the staff claimed to know nothing. I called recruitment to speak to a supervisor because no staff were present in the clinic. When a few staff members showed up, I asked to speak to a superior which, again, was refused.Altasciences failed to give us the opportunity to protect our homes from infestation and did not communicate that toxins were being pumped in the dorms for nine hours.When eventually expressing these concerns to the study manager, I was accused of wanting more money and asked if I preferred having the bedbugs versus the treatment done to the dorms. I told her the issue was that I didn't feel safe sleeping in the room.I was removed from the study and received a citation in my file.The staff treated us like we are nuissances, visibly rolling their eyes or audibly sighing. Questions are treated like insubordination. One participant was told he was lucky to even be on the study.It took three weeks to get a call back (from the lead supervisor) after filing a complaint. A legal request for my file was ignored and there was no follow up to my concerns.After completing four studies, after four months without a call back, the only consistent on the part of Altasciences is the utilization of punitive measures to intimidate participants into silence and banning people who express legitimate concerns.

Very unreliable in terms of test security. They seem to have an issue with differing opinions between their doctors. I was reassured 3 times that I was the ideal candidate for a study last Monday, (XNOP011) by the screening physician, the optomologist (who took the time to show me how I was a good candidate and cleared for the study) and a member of the recruiting staff that had even called me in to be a standby for a different cohort of the same study!All of that just to give me a call me as I'm sitting in the check-in center saying that I am no longer eligible somehow. The lady I spoke with said there was something with my eye that wasn't in the report the optomologist gave me. I tried reaching out to the study doctor and got into a game of telephone transfer. I really needed that study to pull through, cuz of how much time I had to put aside for it.Don't apply for a study with Alta unless you're willing to risk or desperate enough to gamble. Your participation on the study is a random lottery and even if you are confirmed, they will pull you from the study for next to nothing if the because of strict parameters and/or the study doc/review staff don't agree with your previous results.

I tried to help my husband update his file to see if he could participate in any of the trial studies because his English is very good but not perfect and they were very rude when letting him know that I could not help him. We had no problem being told I could not help but the answer was very rude and not acceptable because the agent refused in very disrespectful angry tone which made him feel quite uncomfortable with this treatment. The agent proceeded to be discriminating from then forward with my husband because his English was not perfect even though my husband understood 98% of what was being told to him and the agent had a very strong accent that was much less than perfect!! The agent also said that he would close my husbands file because he had asked me to speak for him to make sure he had the right information only so I take it they definitely are not too eager to find participants. I find it was a demeaning experience for my husband and I would never myself think of participating myself for their company as I would never imagine they could have the psychology to treat anyone with respect especially after this example. I will say they are not very inviting and I could only imagine how disrespectful they would act once you participate making you feel quite low to say the least. What a nightmare of a company and the agents are definitely demoralizing to say the least!!

They are not so bad, however they are getting worse and worse. I volunteered for a study when they were named as Algopharma, and I am participating in another study now.During Algopharma, the personnel was friendly, more importantly they were listening, and caring you, and the food was far more better than now, again these are quite secondary compared to following.These are my observations.They are not only losing moral qualities but also the professionalism.They were so much disoriented, disconnected that, sometimes the participants reminded the correct courses to some of the personnel. They don't give the confidence to the participants who have handed their life's to them. On my part, I have suffered more than any other studies I have ever volunteered.Unfortunately the most critical element that Altascience is lacking / losing is the personnel's approach to the volunteers. During Algopharma, the personnel used to treat the participants with respect, whereas -now- the Altascience personnel doesn't (at least to my observations in the study I've volunteered for). They don't respect the fact that the participants are very valuable components of the whole process as they are the ones volunteered for the study. Such facts cause an important moral deficiency and incompetence. They see themselves above you as they can practice authority over the participants. I may understand they may have some personal problems or some internal hierarchical conflicts, but they can't abuse their role for gaining confidence by disdaining the volunteered participants.I wish I could express these in person, unfortunately they are so much haughty that, they would prefer to be blind and deaf.I am extremely sorry for saying this but such a behavior develops only when it matches with the approach of the upper management, otherwise the corporate would have induced and implemented its 'collaborative approach' not superiority with dominating approach. Such an angle cannot be irrelevant from -at least some level of- management in the Altascience.It is so sad to see that -formerly Algopharma, now- Altascience evolved from treating and respecting volunteers as knights, and encouraging them to volunteer to treating them valueless subjects if not guinea pigs.Volunteering and employing have very different dynamics, motivations, regressions and sensitivitnesses in the course of collaboration, and in this endeavor respect has a paramount importance, as it is a two way gain paving the road for collaboration, and if a corporation loses the right course on this perspective in any level of management it disperses into every level of it.

I came all the way from Ontario for a screening. Traveled for a whole day, paid a hotel, bus and train tickets, $300 and 3 days of travel wasted. Told them my times and no one was able to arrange the screening so I could participate after going all the way there. Just participate if you're a local person in Montréal or have your own car to do it.