Donate Human Biospecimens for Medical Research

Patient Benefits

Patients like you are at the core of biomedical research. Contributions of biospecimens—blood and other biofluids, tissue, and cells—by philanthropic patients fuel medical discovery, leading to new diagnostics and therapies with the potential to benefit millions of patients worldwide.

Patients Want to Contribute

Multiple studies have shown that most patients—up to 90% in some studies—are willing to allow use of their discarded biospecimens for research.¹ Other studies show:

83% of U.S. patients are willing to allow the use of their remnant clinical specimens in medical research.²
81% said they believe donation of human biospecimens is important.³
75% said they are open to being asked to donate their biospecimens for research.³
94% agreed to donate when given a detailed consent form.⁴

Many Reasons to Donate

Patients cite a range of reasons for contributing their biospecimens. In one study of tissue donors, 90% cited altruistic reasons including, “you’re contributing,” it’s a “good cause,” the hope that researchers might “find a cure,” and “it feels good to help.”⁵

Helping Achieve Real Results

Answering complex medical research questions often demands analysis of hundreds or thousands of patient biospecimens, both from healthy patients as well as those with specific medical conditions. Here are just a few examples of life-saving therapies and diagnostics developed through the generous donation of biospecimens from patients like you:

Herception® for breast cancer
Gleevec® for gastrointestinal stromal tumors
Erbitux® for colorectal cancer
Iressa® for non-small-cell lung cancer
Zelboraf® for melanoma
Biomarkers for Type 2 Diabetes and Rheumatoid Arthritis

1 Report of the Public Responsibility in Medicine and Research (PRIM&R) Human Tissue/Specimen Banking Working Group, March 2007; Tool F “Patient Attitudes.”

2 Market research report conducted by Lab 42, December 2015; sponsored by iSpecimen.

3 Celine Lewis, Margaret Clotworthy, Shona Hilton, Caroline Magee, Mark J Robertson, Lesley J Stubbins, Julie Corfield, “Public views on the donation and use of human biological samples in biomedical research: a mixed methods study”, BMJ Open, August 7, 2013.

4 Thomas Malone, Paul J. Catalano, Peter J. O’Dwyer and Bruce Giantonio, “High Rate of Consent to Bank Biologic Samples for Future Research: The Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group Experience”, Journal of the National Cancer Institute, May 2002.

5 Braun Kathryn L., Tsark JoAnn U., Powers Amy, Croom Kristen, Kim Robert, Gachupin Francine C., Morris Paul, “Cancer Patient Perceptions about Biobanking and Preferred Timing of Consent”, Biopreservation & Biobanking, April 21, 2014.