Steroid Nation

No stealth molecule in CERA EPO: Roche denies WADA claim

Apparently WADA didn't understand the science, or WADA president John Fahey misspoke.  Roche, the manufacturer of the new CERA variety of EPO. (Science Blogs)

Roche Holding, which makes a version of a stamina-building drug illegally used by some athletes, said it didn't plant a molecule in the substance to help identify it in doping tests, spokeswoman Martina Rupp said, Bloomberg News reported on Wednesday.

Riccardo Riccò, a Tour de France rider, tested positive for erythropoietin, or EPO, and was ejected from the cycling race last week after winning two stages. The Saunier Duval-Scott team fired the Italian and withdrew from the race.

John Fahey, the president of the World Anti-Doping Agency, said in an interview with the Australian Broadcasting Corp. that Roche planted a molecule in its red-cell boosting product CERA, or Continuous Erythropoietin Receptor Activator, during its manufacture to help anti-doping authorities detect its illegal use. Roche sells the drug as Mircera.

"The information that a special molecule has been added to Mircera is wrong," Rupp said in an e-mail.

WADA clarified the situation on Wednesday:

WADA issued a statement Wednesday saying that Fahey's remarks had been misinterpreted. The agency said the drug can be detected because Roche and accredited sport-doping laboratories worked with the agency early.

"WADA received the molecule well in advance and was able to develop ways to detect it, including through the current EPO detection method," the agency said in the statement.

So apparently no stealth molecule in the CERA drug allowing detection.  A good idea not implemented.

Is something up with Frank and Andy Schleck? (Frank was Tour de France leader)

[Update: the Schleck's father was released when no doping apparatus was found]

This report from The Earth Times:

Paris - Customs agents have begun a search of the car belonging to the father of Tour de France riders Frank and Andy Schleck of Luxembourg, the web site of the daily L'Equipe reported Thursday. According to the report, the car belonging to Johnny Schleck, who works for one of the Tour sponsors, was targeted by customs police and taken away to be searched.

The Schleck brothers, who both ride for the Danish Team CSC, have been very prominent on the 2008 Tour de France. Frank wore the race leader's yellow jersey for two stages before losing it to teammate Carlos Sastre on Wednesday. He currently stands second, 1 minute 24 seconds behind Sastre.

Andy Schleck has been a powerful force in the mountain stages, and is currently the leading rider on the Tour under 25 years of age. Observers have already tabbed him as a certain future Tour de France champion. Team CSC was one of the first teams to implement an internal anti- doping programme. It is run by an outside scientist who carries out unannounced year-round tests on team members.

Reports say USA Olympic swimmer Jessica Hardy tests positive for banned substance

Swimming World issued a story that USA Olympic swimmer Jessica Hardy tested positive for a WADA banned substance.  USA swimmers report she is not in camp.  No word on the substance.  (To TransworldNews)

Swimmer Jessica Hardy may miss the 2008 Beijing Olympics after testing positive for a banned substance on Wednesday.

An anonymous source said that Hardy's "A" sample from the U.S. Olympic Trials tested positive for a stimulant, but did not give the Associated Press more details.

The Swimming World magazine Web site first reported the positive doping test. NBCOlympics.com also posted that Hardy's "B" sample also tested positive.

If the reports are accurate, Hardy, 21, can appeal to the American Arbitration Association and the Court of Arbitration for Sport. A first-time doping offense generally leads to a 2-year ban from the sport.

If she loses the appeal, she cannot participate in the Olympics, because the U.S. deadline to submit their swimming roster was July 21.

Hardy would have participated in several Beijing events.

Hardy earned spots on her first Olympic team in her best event, the 100-meter breaststroke, and the 50 freestyle and 400 free relay.

Hardy was expected to compete for a medal in the 100 breast, and to be an integral part on the 400 free relay, and possibly the 400 medley relay.

Hardy swam for California for two seasons, winning the 100 breast at the 2006 and 2007 NCAA championships before turning pro.

In the 2005 World Championships in Montreal, she broke the world record in the 100 breast with a time of 1 minute, 6.20 seconds, which still stands as the American record.

From her agent a denial:

The Associated Press reported the following response from Hardy's agent Evan Morgenstein:

Agent Evan Morgenstein told the AP that during a brief phone conversation with Hardy, she told him, "I never did anything wrong. I never cheated."
 
Morgenstein said he's heard there were conflicting results from Hardy's tests, though he didn't have any details.
 
"I'm very, very concerned about the confusion of her test coming up positive-negative-positive," Morgenstein said. "She's the one person I would never believe would do anything—anything—to cheat. Ever."

We await confirmation.

Daily Steroid Dose

1.  How will the MLB Hall of Fame look after the Steroid Era?  (The Guardian)

2.  Who is trustworthy in sports today?  (Sun-Sentinel)

3.  Coaches in Louisiana want control over their high school players to keep them away from 'roids.  (Daily World)

4.  New book examines professional cycling's dope masters.  (New Statesman)

5.  St Petersburg FL officers having problems, including steroid use.  (inRich.com)

Afternoon Steroids Injections

1.  'WADA' scientists working on HGH urine test.  Pisses off some.  (USA Today)

2.  The Italian Olympic authority will schedule a hearing for Ricco and Piepoli (Canadian Press)

3.  Why do cyclists dope?  Maybe to win?  (AP)

4.  Mark Spitz was not on steroids.  (USA Today)

WADA traps Tour de France drug cheats with stealth EPO/CERA molecule

Shhhhhhhhhhhhh, WADA is lips sealed on this, but leaks say that Tour de France EPO drug cheat Riccardo Ricco fell to a stealth molecule attached to the drug by the manufacturer (Roche).  The new EPO preparation  -- CERA, a pegylated version of EPO  -- appears to have a trojan horse embedded somewhere that can be detected in WADA labs.  And WADA isn't telling what or how -- and we bet lawyers will be suing.

The Sydney Morning News is outing CERA.

A MOLECULE was the undoing of Tour de France drug cheat Ricardo Ricco, World Anti-Doping Agency chief John Fahey revealed yesterday.

Fahey said the war on drugs was stepping up, with WADA uniting with drug manufacturers to trap cheats. Italian rider Ricco, who had won stages six and nine of the Tour, tested positive for the blood booster erythropoietin (EPO). It's believed Ricco thought there was no test for the red-cell booster he was using called Continuous Erythropoietin Receptor Activator (CERA).

A molecule placed in the drug during its manufacture caught Ricco out last week, and Fahey said that more cheats would be sprung like this.

"I can't tell you the details of how he was detected," Fahey told ABC Radio. "[But] I can indicate the particular substance is called CERA … which is a perfectly legitimate substance to deal with anaemia.

Interesting data; however we can see legal challenges coming down the pike.  How can one be convicted on evidence that is not public?  Is this the secret doping police?

"In the development of that particular substance close cooperation occurred between WADA and the pharmaceutical company Roche Pharmaceuticals so that there was a molecule placed in the substance well in advance that was always going to be able to be detected once a test was undertaken."

Fahey said it was likely more drug companies and scientists would co-operate to ensure drug cheats across all sports would be caught.

"There's more and more of this occurring," he said.

"The more co-operation the scientists can have with the drug companies in the detection of performance-enhancing drugs the greater the likelihood is they will be detected when tests are undertaken."

OK, the stealth molecule catches drug cheats, but shouldn't an athlete have due process including information and data about the evidence against him?  Will the stealth EPO test show up in the Olympics?

Daily Steroids injection

1.  Doped up Ricco tried to flee dope testers. (Can you blame him?)  (SI)

2.  University of Utah improves testosterone dope testing.  (Daily Utah Chronicle)

3.  Arizona might not let you dope up your greyhounds.  (KOLD)

4.  On-going task of finding the golden witness in the Roger Clemens investigation.  (NY Times)

5.  Big stash of drugs uncovered in Bakersfield.  (KERO 23)

6. Louisville man and wife indicted for steroid sales.  (her unfortunate name: Krystal Knuckles) (WHAS)

Chief executive of USA Track & Field exhorts President Bush not to pardon Marion Jones

Marion Jones, tacked away snuggly  in a Texas federal prison, wrote to President Bush asking for a pardon.  The head of the track federation who witnessed her drug-cheating drew up a counter-proposal: DON'T.

Doug Logan -- cheif executive of US Track and Field -- wrote an open letter to President Bush exhorting him not to wipe off Marion Jones's fast sins.  The New York Times elaborates:

“Our country has long turned a blind eye to the misdeeds of our heroes,” Doug Logan wrote in an open letter to President Bush. Logan was named chief executive of the sport’s national governing body last week. “If you have athletic talent or money or fame, the law is applied much differently than if you are slow or poor or an average American trying to get by. At the same time, all sports have for far too long given the benefit of the doubt to its heroes who seem too good to be true, even when common sense indicates they are not.

“To reduce Ms. Jones’s sentence or pardon her would send a horrible message to young people who idolized her, reinforcing the notion that you can cheat and be entitled to get away with it. A pardon would also send the wrong message to the international community. Few things are more globally respected than the Olympic Games, and to pardon one of the biggest frauds perpetuated on the Olympic movement would be nothing less than thumbing our collective noses at the world.”

Jones, as we all recall, vehemently denied use of PEDs even to the point of a defamation suit against BALCO executive Victor Conte, whose ring distributed steroids to Jones.  Jones was also involved in fraud with her partner drug-cheat Tim Montgomery.

Jones is among about 2,300 offenders seeking pardons and commutations during the final months of President Bush’s term in office. Her lawyer, Henry J. DePippo, did not respond to a request for comment.

The letter sent by Logan was a striking departure from the often-timid remarks made by leaders of various Olympic sports federations. It reflected the anger that many antidoping officials felt after Jones called into question the legitimacy of drug-testing procedures before acknowledging that she had taken illicit substances.

Will the President pardon an Olympian who used weapons of mass enhancement?

Carl W. Tobias, who teaches constitutional law at the University of Richmond School of Law and who has tracked President Bush’s pardons, said the chances that Jones would receive a pardon appeared “pretty long and may be getting longer,” in light of Logan’s letter.

Tobias said that Bush had been “extremely stingy” in granting pardons, compared with other recent presidents, and that Jones’s high profile could work against her.

“I just think she would somehow be perceived as getting some slack because of who she was,” Tobias said.

“So much attention is trained on her, and maybe that makes it more difficult than if she were someone who is less well known.”

Daily Steroids Dose

1.  Marion Jones wants to be forgiven for her sins; asks President Bush for pardon.  (AP)

2.  Editorial says media only cares about character if someone like Barry Bonds or Roger Clemens is involved, but not themselves.  (Red Orbit)

3.  New book on Don Catin's sleuthing out of Aranesp in 2002:  The Night Olympic Team.  (Market Watch)

4.  Inhaler helps triathlete breathe easier.  (NY Times)

5.  The Media figured out Katerina Thanou on Greek Olympic team (SI)

6.  Despite the taint currently over track, Gay, Powell, and Bolt look to pour excitement into the Beijing 100M.  (RTE Sport)

7.  Ex-White Sox slugger Eric Soderholm, ex-Cubs catcher Randy Hundley and pitcher Bill Campbell spoke to a "History of Baseball" class at Harper College: say no asterisk for Barry Bonds's Hall of Fame baseabll.  (Daily Harald)

8.  Ukrainian boxer given the boot after doping violation.  (Independent ie)

9.  Tour de France leader Frank Schleck and his CSC team surprised by dope tested.  (Dallas Star-Telegraph)

Gene doping at the Olympics: be afraid, be very afraid

On the eve of the Olympics, the Times Online ran a story looking at disconcerting trends developing in the doping world.  Numero Uno on this list was the offer of 'gene doping' (actually stem cell doping) by a Chinese physician at a Chinese hospital.  (sports stem cell doping may be the second best use of the technology)

Startling new evidence of a burgeoning underground doping culture in China emerged last night as a hospital doctor said that he was prepared to give illegal performance-enhancing gene therapy treatment to an Olympic swimmer. The doctor was caught on camera by a German television investigator saying that he wanted £12,000 for a two-week treatment that would help to strengthen the lungs of a fictitious American swimmer.

The opening paragraph refers to gene doping, however the German story develops more aspects of illicit sports doping for 2008:

The documentary, broadcast by ARD on Germany’s main channel last night, went on to show evidence that drugs firms in China are prepared to sell steroids that have not passed full clinical trials, as well as erythropoietin (EPO), the blood-boosting drug, at a price far cheaper than in the West. In the case of one steroid, 100g was sold for €150 (about £120) when the price in Europe would have been more than €6,000.

...With the Olympics beginning in Beijing in a little more than two weeks, the documentary evidence of cheap, on-demand gene therapy alarmed David Howman, the director general of the World AntiDoping Agency (Wada). “This is worse than my worst fears,” he said.

When the head of a hospital gene therapy department in China was approached by a fictitious American swimming coach seeking stem-cell treatment for one of his swimmers, the doctor replied: “Yes. We have no experience with sportspeople here, but the treatment is safe and we can help you.”

That's doctor in whom to entrust confidence:  "no experience with sportspeople".

Asked how it would work, the doctor said: “It strengthens lung function and stem cells go into the bloodstream and reach the organs. It takes two weeks. I recommend four intravenous injections . . . 40 million stem cells or double that, the more the better. We also use human growth hormones, but you have to be careful because they are on the doping list.”

And the price? “Twenty-four thousand dollars,” the doctor said.

Ouch, expensive, but then again swimmers spend 100,000 in trainers and coaches.  Here is a paragraph from a consensus panel of international experts on the "Molecular basis of connective tissue and muscle injuries in sport "

[Arne Ljungqvist, Martin P. Schwellnus, Norbert Bachl,et al, Clinics in Sports Medicine,  27, Pages 231-239 (Jan 2008)]

Mesenchymal stem cells are adult tissue-producing cells that have been isolated from various parts of the body, including cartilage, bone marrow, synovium, adipose tissue, articular cartilage, muscle, and tendons ^{[70], [71], [72]}. Potentially, mesenchymal stem cells can be used for tissue-engineering strategies through implantation of scaffolds and gels, for gene delivery, and for production of growth factor to stimulate tissue repair or inhibit tissue degradation ^{[73], [74], [75]}. Most studies have been conducted in animal models. Some studies of human bone, cartilage, and tendons have produced positive results ^{[76], [77], [78]}. Further controlled clinical trials in musculoskeletal injuries in humans are warranted, however. Reasons for the lack of progress in this field include the need to find the optimal sources of and methods for the differentiation of cells and for the development of optimal surgical delivery materials and methods ^{[79], [80]}. Although some studies have shown negative effects, including ectopic calcification and connective tissue overgrowth [78], further clinical trials should be undertaken to determine whether long-term complications exist.

The Chinese doctor appears to have the protocol down a little better than one would think after reading the paragraph above.  How did this happen?  If practiced would the protocol lead to serious complications or death?

Will the 2008 Olympics be the first to see 'stem cell doping'?  (more later)