Sports Illustrated says tonight that Baltimore Outfielder Jay Gibbons is again involved in a steroids/HGH controversy. Gibbons joins Rick Ankiel, and Troy Glaus as Signature Pharmacy of Florida anabolic drug clients. (Addendum: post on the legal issues of HGH use)
In 2006, media outlets (and Deadspin) reported that Jason Grimsley, then apprehended by the BALCO team, named several MLB pros as PED users; among this group was Jay Gibbons. Later San Francisco attorney Kevin Ryan, before the Bush administration dumped him, cast doubt on this report.
Recent revelations following up on last springs Signature Pharmacy bust, renames Gibbons. From SI.com:
In the ever-widening Signature Pharmacy scandal, Baltimore Orioles outfielder Jay Gibbons is the latest pro athlete tied to an alleged illegal internet drug distribution network. According to information obtained by SI, Gibbons received shipments of performance-enhancing steroids and human growth hormone (HGH) from an Orlando-based compound pharmacy raided last spring as part of a multi-agency bust, even after both drugs were on Major League Baseball's banned substance list.
A source in Florida with knowledge of Signature Pharmacy's client list alleges that between October 2003 and July 2005, Gibbons received six separate shipments of Genotropin (a brand name for synthetic Human Growth Hormone), two shipments of testosterone and two shipments of human chorionic gonadotropin (HCG), a hormone produced naturally during pregnancy, but taken by anabolic steroid users to stimulate the production of testosterone, which is suppressed as a result of steroid use. The information regarding Gibbons only pertains to receipt and not actual use of the drugs.
SI gets into a discussion of the testing and banning of these PEDs in baseball. The media never gets this right. Peter Gammons, likewise, give inaccurate information. HGH is NEVER legal without a prescription. Further, there is no recognized indication for HGH in athletic rehab. A doctor prescribing the drug for such a treatment is very clearly walking an increasingly shady ethics line. The way the Internet pharmacies worked, those prescriptions are likewise extremely shady; if a physician has not laid hands on a patient, made a legitimate diagnosis, and noted his treatment plan, the HGH is unethical, and likely also illegal.
Testosterone was banned by MLB in 2003, the same year baseball initiated steroids testing. HGH was added to the banned list in January 2005, but Gibbons allegedly received a shipment in July of that year. (HCG is not banned.) The prescriptions were written in Gibbons' name and sent to a Gilbert, Ariz., address that traces to the player.
(We will discuss more on the ethics and legality of HGH after the jump; we also now wonder about the other names on the Grimsley list -- Clemens and Pettitte) (Links to Ankiel, Glaus, and what Selig should do)
Not only did the Gibbons prescriptions skirt ethical limits in the first place, the doctor writing them lost her license in 1999, however continued to practice medicine and write prescriptions. Ridiculous.
The drugs were obtained through South Beach Rejuvenation Center/Modern Therapy, a Miami Beach anti-aging clinic, and were processed by Signature. Of the two prescribing physicians in Gibbons' file, one was A. Almarashi. Investigators believe Almarashi is an alias for a Queens, N.Y., doctor, Ana Maria Santi, who was stripped of her medical license in 1999, but continued writing bogus prescriptions for thousands of on-line customers she never examined. In July 2007, Santi pleaded guilty to a felony count of criminal diversion of prescription medications and prescriptions, making her the first person to do so in a case spearheaded by the Albany County (NY) District Attorneys office and New York State's Bureau of Narcotics Enforcement.
The "Almarashi" signature was also affixed to prescriptions for Genotropin and human chorionic gonadotropin (HCG) allegedly sent to Texas Rangers outfielder Jerry Hairston Jr. in 2004. In Hairston's case, the drugs originated from a compound pharmacy in Alabama, according to documents reviewed by SI, but similar to the Gibbons' case, the information pertained only to the receipt of and not actual use of the drugs. Moreover, Genotropin was not yet banned by MLB.
No matter what Peter Gammons says about HGH use for rehab, this recent PED/Internet pharmacy episode with Ankiel, Glaus, and now Gibbons smells rank.
Compounding pharmacists play a vital role in their patients' lives, providing customized medications ordered by prescribers, sometimes when all other options will not work. Compounded medications are prepared by pharmacists for individual patients, often with special needs.
Posted by: compound pharmacy | 05/27/2008 at 05:06