Is AcurianHealth Legit? Pros, Cons & Our Unbiased Opinion

You’re probably here because you’ve heard about or received an e-mail from AcurianHealth.

They reach out to people and ask them to participate in clinical trials that may benefit science.

In exchange, you may get monetary compensation, access to specialized physicians, and full body screening and care.

But is AcurianHealth legit? Are you too hesitant about whether you should take part in such experiments?

You’re not alone in this. Many people actually wonder about the legitimacy of this company, and since information online is scarce, they’re often left with no answer.

Fortunately, we’ve done the homework and gathered everything there is to gather about AcurianHealth, and this article will discuss all of it.

What Is AcurianHealth? 

According to their official website, AcurianHealth is a company that aids in advanced health research by helping connect research studies with thousands of people all over the world.

It’s important to understand that these clinical trials aren’t experiments on humans.

Such trials serve to understand how useful a new/experimental treatment is by noticing how effective it can be on people who qualify for the experiment.

The result is supposed to be a win/win situation.

Those clinical research studies get to study how effective their medications are, and the participants get compensated for their time and distance traveled (if the research center is far from the residence).

How Does AcurianHealth Work?

If someone wants to start volunteering their time to AcurianHealth, they should start by visiting their website and checking whether they qualify to participate in the available studies or not.

They will request the user’s age, e-mail, and phone number. The next step would be reading and agreeing to the privacy policy and terms and conditions.

The last step would be to provide a zip code so the user can be directed to the details and the location of the local study, if available.

The user would then be given a 15-minute survey that discusses their medical history in detail.

If, for any reason, the user is failing to utilize the website, they may call at any time at 888-351-9685.

Common Questions to Understand

Here are some questions you might have in mind about AcurianHealth:

How Does AcurianHealth Find Participants for Clinical Trials?

AcurianHealth claims that it utilizes conventional methods to reach its participants.

These methods include online advertising, targeted outreach, and partnerships with healthcare providers.

However, as we’ll discuss later in the article, some people reported that they received e-mails from AcurianHealth that discussed medical information they’ve never shared with them.

This raises some questions about the methods that AcurianHealth uses to obtain this information.

What Happens After I Express Interest in a Clinical Trial Through AcurianHealth?

Once you’re interested in participating in medical research, you’ll be greeted with a survey to assess whether you’re eligible based on the study criteria.

If you meet the requirements, you’ll be told to expect to undergo some physical screening to ensure that you don’t have any diseases that may pose a risk to your health during the experiment.

Is My Personal Information Safe With AcurianHealth?

Participants will have to give a decent amount of personal and medical information before participating in the studies, which is why they might wonder if their personal information could be compromised.

In the meantime, there’s no way to completely verify whether the information is kept confidential or used for any other purposes.

However, as you’ll notice if you continue reading, there’s a good chance that the information isn’t as safe as it should be.

Can I Trust the Clinical Trials Recommended by AcurianHealth?

AcurianHealth claims that it partners with reputable pharmaceutical companies and research organizations to ensure that all paid clinical trials meet scientific and ethical standards.

However, many users claimed that they weren’t able to find any trials near their location to begin with.

The users were located in multiple areas throughout the states, with no luck finding any studies to participate in.

Is AcurianHealth Legit?

AcurianHealth was founded in 1998, so it’s safe to say that it’s been around for a while, which isn’t something we can say about scammers or fake companies, right?

Plus, it can seem like one of those services that pay you for your time/opinion/feedback, like Tech Research Studies and Drumo Surveys.

This is when things start to get controversial. There are multiple reasons why we can’t say for sure whether AcurianHealth is legitimate or not.

The Website Is Shady

The first thing we noticed is how the website is suspicious. For example, the diseases aren’t organized in any order, alphabetical or not. They’re thrown there without any pattern.

The diseases written also don’t entirely fall into the category of “diseases.”

For example, among various diseases like diabetes and osteoporosis, you’ll see “High Cholesterol” and “Heart Health,” which aren’t even diseases.

There are also multiple instances of incomplete names, like Crohn’s (supposedly Crohn’s disease) and Lupus (supposedly Lupus Erythematosus).

You’ll even find inappropriate categorization of the same disease. For example, one of the side effects of diabetes is nerve pain.

Yet, you’ll find “diabetes” and “nerve pain” mentioned separately. It’s as if someone with surface-level knowledge about medicine was in charge of this categorization.

To raise our suspicions more, we also failed to find any “About Us” section. There was no information about who they were, where they were situated, and who the owner was.

Last but not least, we noticed how the English writing on the website is non-native, as if it’s not written by an American.

We were even able to find a typing mistake in one of the FAQs that say:

Should I participate in a clinical research study? In the second paragraph of the answer, they say: “Either way, by participating you (many) help develop future medical treatments.”

You’ll never find such a typing mistake on a legitimate website.

The Address Doesn’t Show Up on Google Search

AcurianHealth’s listed address is 929 N Front St, Wilmington, NC 28401.

Go ahead and do a quick search about it. No sign of AcurianHealth will appear on the map.

Businesses, no matter how small they are, shouldn’t have any issues registering their business and appearing on Google.

Not being able to view AcurianHealth on Google raised our suspicions even more.

There Are Multiple Complaints Regarding Them

We were able to find multiple complaints about AcurianHealth, all of which are unresolved, which is highly questionable.

They were mentioned in some articles as well, such as “How a Company You’ve Never Heard of Sends You Letters about Your Medical Condition,” published in Gizmodo.

The article talks about a woman named Alexandra Franco, who was invited to participate in a study about psoriasis despite never having the disease.

However, she did remember that she searched for it online in what should have been an anonymous search.

This raises a red flag that your personal information was leaked or acquired through unethical methods.

AcurianHealth Has Low Better Business Bureau Rating

The Better Business Bureau, or BBB, is a non-profit organization focused on shedding light on trustworthy (or shady) businesses by giving them different ratings according to the feedback they receive about them.

AcurianHealth received a disappointing F rate, which means that their business isn’t even BBB accredited.

Is AcurianHealth Reliable?

The following is what AcurianHealth claims it would do should you participate in one of their uncommon side hustles:

• Nobody is forced: None of the studies is forced upon any participants, and anyone may choose to refuse the study if they change their mind after knowing the details. However, it’s best to do some research about the study ahead of time to avoid such a situation.
• It doesn’t matter why you participate: Some participants join these medical trials to help advance science, while others join to access the specialists present within the study. Some people even go solely for financial compensation. Whatever the reason, you can freely participate if you’re eligible.
• There’s clarity about risks: Whenever clinical research studies are involved, some risks tag along. AcurianHealth claims to be transparent about this, stating that different studies do have different risks. Since some medications can have side effects, AcurianHealth provides free-of-charge study-related medical care.
• You can leave at any time: Even if you change your mind after the study has already begun, you may still leave the study at any given time. AcurianHealth says that once you explain your reasons to the doctors supervising the study, you’re free to go. However, you may not get the full monetary compensation.
• You’re protected: All studies performed by AcurianHealth follow the rules and regulations set by the FDA. Each study also needs to be approved by the Ethics Committee (EC) and/or the Institutional Review Board (IRB). The participants will also be informed of the full study protocol before it even begins, which eliminates any surprises.
• You’re not discarded after the study is done: Whether you’ve received monetary compensation or not, AcurianHealth claims that they’ll stay in contact with you for a while after the study is over. It doesn’t matter if you’ve exhibited any side effects or not; the doctors supervising the study will still reach out to you periodically to make sure that you’re free of any signs or symptoms.

Now, should they be honest, we can safely say that AcurianHealth is reliable.

However, after seeing the many negative reviews and scam claims online, we find it hard to label AcurianHealth as reliable.

Is AcurianHealth Safe?

The answer to that question largely depends on what people qualify as “safe.”

While many people describe AcurianHealth as a scam or a waste of time, we weren’t able to find anyone claiming that there was a case of fraud or money theft.

However, many reviewers seem to agree that their medical information was leaked.

In other words, while AcurianHealth won’t steal your money, they may leak your personal information.

What Are Users Saying About AcurianHealth?

We were not able to find any positive reviews about AcurianHealth despite checking various forums and social media.

Why Are People Worried About Using AcurianHealth?

After not being matched with a study or somehow figuring out that their information was leaked, users have a lot to say.

We went ahead and checked AcurianHealth’s reviews and complaints on the Complaints Board, ScamPulse, and social media. Here are a few instances of what we found:

What Complaints Board and ScamPulse Users Are Worried About

Users of both platforms are worried that their medical information is being obtained (and used) unethically. That explains the various unsolved complaints you can find there.

• They kept calling a patient’s doctor: One of the users mentioned that he didn’t want to participate in the study after having already provided his information. Soon after, AcurianHealth called his doctors for medical releases, which he specifically told them not to reveal.
• A user was scammed for nothing: Another user claims that they spent 15 minutes doing a survey about depression on AcurianHealth. They mentioned that they got matched with a COVID-19 trial. However, there was no trial in the state they lived in. They claimed it was a scam, a waste of time, and that they should be shut down.
• A disabled user was taken advantage of: A disabled user received an e-mail from AcurianHealth, telling them that they were doing a research study in their city that they could participate in. After the user provided all their medical information, the website said that they didn’t qualify for the study in their city. The user said that they, as a disabled person, feel that they’re especially taken advantage of.

What Social Media Users Are Worried About

Social media users are mostly worried about getting scammed by AcurianHealth. Here’s what they’ve got to say about it:

• A group warning a user that it’s a scam: A user on Reddit talked about attempting to participate in a 50/50 study with AcurianHealth and was wished good luck by everyone. Soon after, they responded again in the thread, saying it was a massive scam. More comments followed after supporting that claim.
• No social media presence: We tracked down their Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest. They barely had any followers to provide peace of mind. You’d expect a legitimate company to have a decent amount of likes/followers, but that’s not what we found.

AcurianHealth Quality & Guarantees

We weren’t able to find any guarantees on the website.

The only section that should give some ease of mind is the FAQs section, which still feels poorly optimized for a website that has a valid SSL certificate.

Does AcurianHealth Offer Customer Service?

AcurianHealth claims that they do. However, many users reported that after they provided their medical information, they received no response from customer support, which raised even more questions.

What Customer Service Options Are Available?

The only customer support option we could find on AcurianHealth’s official website is their number, 888-351-9685).

We weren’t able to find an e-mail to reach out to, nor a physical site on the map that we could visit for more information.

Frequently Asked Questions

Similar Gigs to Research

If you’d like to stray away from AcurianHealth but are still interested in other companies that may be legitimate, consider checking the following:

• Is Adler Weiner Research Legit?: Adler Weiner allows you to start your project or participate in one. It also provides expert advice on market research. Find out more about its legitimacy here.
• Is Broad Focus Clinical Legit?: Much like Acurian’s claims, Broad Focus Clinical also connects willing participants to the studies they seek, but is this one legit?
• Is Curion Legit?: Curion focuses on consumer product testing. But is it legitimate?

Wrapping Up

Considering all the information we gathered, we’re leaning away from labeling AcurianHealth as a legitimate company.

Despite having a high DR, the website looks and feels poorly optimized, the disease names are haphazardly placed with no real care, there’s little to no information about the owners or the people behind the company, and there’s no physical location to visit.

Add that to the list of complaints and scam reports scattered online, and you got yourself a suspicious recipe.

If you want to try AcurianHealth for the sake of helping, consider another noble side hustle, like donating plasma.

The information mentioned above took decent research to find, and if it helped you formulate an idea about AcurianHealth, be sure to spread the word around to help other people too.

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