By Benson Ang

HE likens himself to Bruce Banner, the comicbook character who turns into The Incredible Hulk after being exposed to gamma rays in an experiment gone wrong.

While he is not been exposed to gamma rays, he has been subjected to many medical experiments.

Bruce, who is in his 40s, is a full-time lab rat. Or, as he puts it, a 'medical guinea pig'.

Pharmaceutical firms and hospitals call on him whenever they want to test new products.

For that, he claims, he has made a tidy sum - $20,000 since 2006, to be exact.

Even so, he does not want his relatives and friends to know what he does. Hence his choice of the pseudonym Bruce, from the character whom he empathises with.

During a lunch interview at a cafe, he told the New Paper that 80 per cent of his income comes from clinical trials.

He makes the rest from odd jobs such as wrapping hampers, working at roadshow promotions and as a part-time production operator.

Bruce, who has a diploma in electrical engineering from Ngee Ann Polytechnic, said he started doing clinical trials in 2004, during the aftermath of Sars.

Then, he was a full-time technician of 10 years, earning $1,500 a month to repair factory machines, which he described as 'tiring'.

Good money

He said: 'My friend told me that if I go to hospital (for a clinical trial), I could earn more than a thousand. So I signed up and it was okay.'

He was paid $1,300 for the two-week trial. After that, the hospital called to ask if he wanted to take part in subsequent trials.

He also started searching for other trials by looking for advertisements in the newspapers.

After a brief stint as a salesman in 2005, Bruce returned to clinical trials in 2006 for good.

'You can get hooked on it, because it's very easy money.'

Bruce has since taken part in about 10 clinical trials, averaging about three a year, making more than $20,000 from them.

His most lucrative trial was this year, for which he was paid $5,000 for a month's 'work'.

Bruce said he 'leads a simple life', eating at hawker centres, wearing clothes bought at pasar malams (night markets), and travelling only once a year, usually to Malaysia for two to three days.

Since 2002, Bruce has rented a bedroom in a three-room flat in the east for $400 a month.

His expenses amount to $600 a month, and he now has about $3,000 in his bank account.

Why doesn't he get a job?

Bruce said: 'Most people just work and go home, work and go home. But I'm easy-going and carefree.'

'The life I've led is so relaxing, I sometimes feel I don't want to work at all.'

During the trials, Bruce said he has to stay at the medical facility. But he can watch up to seven movies a day on his laptop during the period.

'There are also variety shows, documentaries, and drama serials - how can you see all of them?'

Bruce estimates that there are about 10 full-time lab rats, or 'regulars', in Singapore. He says he is one of the more 'lao jiao (experienced)' ones.

Unlike those who sign up during school holidays or annual leave, these regulars do not hold full-time jobs and most of their earnings are from clinical trials.

After bumping into each other at various trials, they have become friends.

Bruce said trial participants are from all walks of life, from security guards to insurance and property agents to company directors.

Most are men, and some trials only accept women of non-child-bearing potential.

Outside the trials, apart from watching movies, Bruce spends his days hanging out in bookstores, libraries or cafeterias, and can read magazines from lunch to dinner.

'Every day is a free day to me,' he said.

Bruce, who is single, said he last had a girlfriend 10 years ago, whom he broke up with because 'she was very naggy'.

'I hate people who just cling and never let go,' he said, shaping his hand into a claw.

'I won't have a girlfriend while I'm doing trials because I don't have a steady income.'

Health-conscious

Isn't he worried about the trials affecting his health?

'No. Singapore is quite safe (for trials).'

He said he neither drinks nor smokes, and has not fallen ill in more than four years.

Likening clinical trials to blood donation, he said: 'Both draw blood from your body...and since your body generates new blood, you will get healthier.'

After each trial, he strictly follows the prescribed amount of time recommended by doctors for his body to recover.

'If you don't follow, sooner or later, your health will deteriorate.'

During some trials, Bruce experienced side-effects such as vomiting, headaches, and stomach-bloating.

So isn't he worried about long term side-effects?

'I don't think the effects are long-lasting. Once you stop taking the pills, the effect is no longer there.'

Bruce said that when he told his parents, they were not happy.

'The traditional mindset is that if a healthy person is taking drugs, he is courting death,' he said.

Bruce's parents live in a five-room flat in the east with his elder brother and family.

'My parents said hospitals are for sick people. If I'm well, why should I go there?

'But it's my life. This is the fastest way to make money.'

'It's true that we don't have qian tu (a future), but we have qian (money).'

He said he will continue doing trials at least until the financial crisis is over. But he doesn't consider being a lab rat a long-lasting job.

'This is not the kind of life I want to live until I retire.'

This story was first published in The New Paper on Oct 6, 2008.