Doping-Undetectable new blood boosters available says expert

[masking_agent]

Interesting Article of which does not surprise me.

(Reuters) - Experts believe up to 100 undetectable performance-enhancing drugs similar to the banned blood booster erythropoietin (EPO) have been designed, German doping specialist Mario Thevis said on Thursday.

Thevis, who is based at the German Sports University in Cologne, told the Tackling Doping in Sport 2012 conference in London, presented by the worldsportslawreport, that the list of "80, 90, 100" new drugs similar to EPO was not exhaustive.

"They act like EPO but they are structurally different and that means the current EPO tests will not pick them up," he said.

"Fortunately we know about that problem and we have to develop new tests to help to find these drugs that, according to anecdotal evidence and rumours, are already used in elite sports although they are not officially launched yet.

"You cannot go to a pharmacy to buy these drugs. You might have (to have) good connections to get hold of those.

"It is quite difficult to develop tests when you don't have an idea what the molecule really looks like. If you don't know what the molecule looks like it's almost impossible to have a potential strategy."

EPO, which increases the number of red blood cells, has been used mostly by endurance athletes such as middle and long-distance runners and cyclists. A blood and urine doping test was introduced for the 2000 Sydney Olympics.

Anna Baoutina, a senior research scientist at the National Measurement Institute in Sydney, told the conference tests had been developed for detecting gene doping, defined by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) as the use of cells, genes or genetic elements to improve athletic performance.

"The major advantage of gene doping is that it's very difficult to detect compared to drug doping," she said. "The doping gene is very similar to the natural cells which are found in any body."

Baoutina told reporters later no test would be in place before this year's London Olympics.

"We are developing methods to fight it," she said. "But we have yet to see the implementation of these methods. WADA has to decide when these methods should be implemented."

http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/03/15/doping-epo-idUSL4E8EF70520120315

 

[Polish]

Interesting Article of which does not surprise me.

(Reuters) - Experts believe up to 100 undetectable performance-enhancing drugs similar to the banned blood booster erythropoietin (EPO) have been designed, German doping specialist Mario Thevis said on Thursday.

Thevis, who is based at the German Sports University in Cologne, told the Tackling Doping in Sport 2012 conference in London, presented by the worldsportslawreport, that the list of "80, 90, 100" new drugs similar to EPO was not exhaustive.

"They act like EPO but they are structurally different and that means the current EPO tests will not pick them up," he said.

"Fortunately we know about that problem and we have to develop new tests to help to find these drugs that, according to anecdotal evidence and rumours, are already used in elite sports although they are not officially launched yet.

"You cannot go to a pharmacy to buy these drugs. You might have (to have) good connections to get hold of those.

"It is quite difficult to develop tests when you don't have an idea what the molecule really looks like. If you don't know what the molecule looks like it's almost impossible to have a potential strategy."

EPO, which increases the number of red blood cells, has been used mostly by endurance athletes such as middle and long-distance runners and cyclists. A blood and urine doping test was introduced for the 2000 Sydney Olympics.

Anna Baoutina, a senior research scientist at the National Measurement Institute in Sydney, told the conference tests had been developed for detecting gene doping, defined by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) as the use of cells, genes or genetic elements to improve athletic performance.

"The major advantage of gene doping is that it's very difficult to detect compared to drug doping," she said. "The doping gene is very similar to the natural cells which are found in any body."

Baoutina told reporters later no test would be in place before this year's London Olympics.

"We are developing methods to fight it," she said. "But we have yet to see the implementation of these methods. WADA has to decide when these methods should be implemented."

http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/03/15/doping-epo-idUSL4E8EF70520120315

To be perfectly honest my BIGGEST disapointment with the 2+ year FDA/INTERPOL/FBI/FRENCH&ITALPOLICE/ETC investigation was the lack of arrests in these areas. Cutting edge doping labs, genetic or meds....

No current day "Balco's" were uncovered. To be perfectly honest again, I really felt the investigation was looking into these things despite all the distractions and hoopla that was on the surface and discussed over and over here in the clinic.

It would have been really helpful to the USADA and AFLD and WADA etc if the investigation could have made some discoveries in these areas. Have to keep on pushing on though. Can't give up the fight.

 

[Velodude]

To be perfectly honest my BIGGEST disapointment with the 2+ year FDA/INTERPOL/FBI/FRENCH&ITALPOLICE/ETC investigation was the lack of arrests in these areas. Cutting edge doping labs, genetic or meds....

No current day "Balco's" were uncovered. To be perfectly honest again, I really felt the investigation was looking into these things despite all the distractions and hoopla that was on the surface and discussed over and over here in the clinic.

It would have been really helpful to the USADA and AFLD and WADA etc if the investigation could have made some discoveries in these areas. Have to keep on pushing on though. Can't give up the fight.

If you are being "perfectly honest" in this post then we should have reasons to doubt the quality of your honesty in other posts?

 

[MarkvW]

To be perfectly honest my BIGGEST disapointment with the 2+ year FDA/INTERPOL/FBI/FRENCH&ITALPOLICE/ETC investigation was the lack of arrests in these areas. Cutting edge doping labs, genetic or meds....

No current day "Balco's" were uncovered. To be perfectly honest again, I really felt the investigation was looking into these things despite all the distractions and hoopla that was on the surface and discussed over and over here in the clinic.

It would have been really helpful to the USADA and AFLD and WADA etc if the investigation could have made some discoveries in these areas. Have to keep on pushing on though. Can't give up the fight.

I got the sense from the article that the new dope is from pharmaceutical companies and that the products haven't hit the legitimate market yet. Balco wasn't cutting edge stuff, either. "The Clear" was just an obscure product from the past that wasn't on any dope detecting radar.

 

[Polish]

I got the sense from the article that the new dope is from pharmaceutical companies and that the products haven't hit the legitimate market yet. Balco wasn't cutting edge stuff, either. "The Clear" was just an obscure product from the past that wasn't on any dope detecting radar.

Maybe that is why Mr Howard of WADA said the investigation would be "bigger than Balco" in an interview more than a year ago.

But heck, I would have been happy with a Balco level bust.

I mean, c'mon, asking Big George about HWMNBN'd instead of asking Big George about the shady BMC soigneur who was found with a stash of weird concoctions pre-tour. 2011 pre-tour, not 1997 white lunch bag pre-tour.

If this is going off-topic, I apologize. But it must be frustrating for the USADA and WADA to not get more help chasing these new drugs down. Maybe they need a budget increase to help "turn over the stones" and find the nasty new stuff sooner.

 

[Merckx index]

To be perfectly honest my BIGGEST disapointment with the 2+ year FDA/INTERPOL/FBI/FRENCH&ITALPOLICE/ETC investigation was the lack of arrests in these areas. Cutting edge doping labs, genetic or meds....

No current day "Balco's" were uncovered. To be perfectly honest again, I really felt the investigation was looking into these things despite all the distractions and hoopla that was on the surface and discussed over and over here in the clinic.

It would have been really helpful to the USADA and AFLD and WADA etc if the investigation could have made some discoveries in these areas. Have to keep on pushing on though. Can't give up the fight.

You just can't get yourself to admit the real reason there were no "discoveries", can you? INSUFFICIENT EVIDENCE.

These new EPOs will simply induce riders to switch back from blood transfusions. The passport can control the amount of HT increase, but not prevent some. But newer methods, such as being used for HGH, will allow detection of doping with an increasing number of substances by their effects in the body, so it will not be necessary to detect the substance directly.

"There`s a publication in Clinical Chemistry (2011) entitled "The Athlete Biological Passport", which says there is an undetectable EPO on the black market and undetectable testosterone. The test for EPO is based on differentiating the isoforms in synthetic EPO, and someone has managed to develop an EPO with the same isoforms as the naturally-occurring hormone. Apparently this EPO is made in China."

My only comment on this is: What took them so long? I pointed out years ago that someone with the financial means could synthesize EPO identical to the human forms. It's just a matter of translating the gene in a human cell system, so that the carbohydrate groups that distinguish the various isoforms are the same as in the human forms. It doesn't actually have to be identical, since in fact the relative proportions of various isoforms varies from individual to individual, and probably over time within the same individual. The test allows a lot of leeway, so it's only necessary to produce an EPO that approximates that in humans.

Again, the only way to combat this is to use passport-like programs based on changes the EPO makes in the body.

 

[MarkvW]

My only comment on this is: What took them so long? I pointed out years ago that someone with the financial means could synthesize EPO identical to the human forms. It's just a matter of translating the gene in a human cell system, so that the carbohydrate groups that distinguish the various isoforms are the same as in the human forms. It doesn't actually have to be identical, since in fact the relative proportions of various isoforms varies from individual to individual, and probably over time within the same individual. The test allows a lot of leeway, so it's only necessary to produce an EPO that approximates that in humans.

Again, the only way to combat this is to use passport-like programs based on changes the EPO makes in the body.

Do you mean an EPO customized to the rider or an EPO that is identical to the same EPO that is found in every human?

 

[Merckx index]

Do you mean an EPO customized to the rider or an EPO that is identical to the same EPO that is found in every human?

Oh, the latter. As I said, everyone's exact isoform profile may be unique, and may change over time, but humans as a species are defined by a group of isoforms that is very different from that of recombinant EPO (which is synthesized in a bacterial system). The EPO test only distinguishes between the human pattern and the recombinant pattern. Even if there were differences between one individual and another, the gel system that is used to analyze these isoforms is not sensitive enough to detect these differences. It's difficult enough just to distinguish human patterns from recombinant ones. There is a range of patterns that is considered a negative test, another range that is considered positive, and an intermediate range that is considered suspicious but which is scored as negative.

As a crude analogy, we can easily distinguish one human face from another, and even recognize changes in the same human face at different times (as when we express different emotions). But we can also distinguish a generic human face from that of a chimpanzee. We can in effect gloss over all facial differences between different individuals, and focus on general features that distinguish humans from any other species. This is basically what the EPO test does.

So all an "indetectable" form of EPO has to do is fall within that generic pattern. About the only vulnerability to an EPO test it might suffer from is if a rider, confident in escaping detection, took a lot of it. Then the amount of EPO detected in his urine might exceed normal levels, and trigger suspicion. I don't know, though, if a rider could be prosecuted on this basis. AFAIK, there is nothing in the WADA code about levels of EPO, as opposed to whether its natural vs. synthetic.

The situation is somewhat similar with testosterone. If you took a lot of a natural form, you would exceed the threshold T/E ratio, and trigger an isotope test. But the natural form would pass the isotope test. So I guess in this situation, an athlete could have a very high T/E ratio, and still not be sanctioned.

I imagine that just because of these consequences, WADA may be looking into the possibility of changing its criteria for these substances.

 

[blackcat]

If you are being "perfectly honest" in this post then we should have reasons to doubt the quality of your honesty in other posts?

personally Velodude, I prefer Arbiter and BanProCycling 's technique... "we can all agree on"

 

[blackcat]

My only comment on this is: What took them so long? I pointed out years ago that someone with the financial means could synthesize EPO identical to the human forms. It's just a matter of translating the gene in a human cell system, so that the carbohydrate groups that distinguish the various isoforms are the same as in the human forms. It doesn't actually have to be identical, since in fact the relative proportions of various isoforms varies from individual to individual, and probably over time within the same individual. The test allows a lot of leeway, so it's only necessary to produce an EPO that approximates that in humans.

I heard about 4 years back, there was a nation already pursuing a gene doping strategy. May have, or may not have, been successful in winning the right to host an upcoming Olympics.

 

[BotanyBay]

So basically, pro cycling is 100% doped now. With this many products available that can't be detected, WADA won't even know where to focus anymore, and the riders all know this. McQuaid is happy, the riders are happy, the media is happy, the sponsors are happy. And the old generation (us) are unhappy.

 

[MarkvW]

So basically, pro cycling is 100% doped now. With this many products available that can't be detected, WADA won't even know where to focus anymore, and the riders all know this. McQuaid is happy, the riders are happy, the media is happy, the sponsors are happy. And the old generation (us) are unhappy.

I doubt that 100% of the riders are doped (at least with the new EPO), if only for the reason that undetectable EPO is probably crazy expensive and pro cycling domestiques don't make that much money. I get the sense that most teams' budgets are very tight.

 

[BotanyBay]

I doubt that 100% of the riders are doped (at least with the new EPO), if only for the reason that undetectable EPO is probably crazy expensive and pro cycling domestiques don't make that much money. I get the sense that most teams' budgets are very tight.

Decanio bought a Mercedes Benz when he was pulling $25k on a US team. Bike racers aren't always the brightest bulbs when it comes to money. Credit cards buy a LOT of crap.

Regardless, with this many undetectable oxygen vector options available, hope is fleeting.

 

[Velodude]

So basically, pro cycling is 100% doped now. With this many products available that can't be detected, WADA won't even know where to focus anymore, and the riders all know this. McQuaid is happy, the riders are happy, the media is happy, the sponsors are happy. And the old generation (us) are unhappy.

The only impediment to those athletes doping with new forms of EPO is retrospective testing when new anti doping tests are developed.

Davide Rebellin lost his Beijing 2008 Olympic silver medal after retrospective testing for CERA.

All those current athletes using these new products would need to keep their fingers crossed that no tests would be developed during the 8 year statute of limitations period or no one breaks the riders' omerta code (non quantitative analysis AAF)

Marion Jones mistakenly believed she was in the clear <---- pun

 

[Oldman]

Decanio bought a Mercedes Benz when he was pulling $25k on a US team. Bike racers aren't always the brightest bulbs when it comes to money. Credit cards buy a LOT of crap.

Regardless, with this many undetectable oxygen vector options available, hope is fleeting.

The hope would be in retroactive testing, assuming UCI would allow a third party to control and store sampling. That said; they and the Pro riders' union would probably fight it.
The rumored supply of some new synthetic from China or whereever has always been the basis for the LA investigation IMO. If it wasn't; it should have been because athletes will always be the willing guinea pigs for an emergent edge that isn't technically a banned substance. The self-righteous among them can always claim "they've never tested positive" although they are still absolute cheats.
That they are still waiting for technical compliance to strip Tyler Hamilton of his medal underscores how much politics impacts sports...China has a history of developing a wave of unusually gifted athletes almost over night. Anybody remember the runners whose gifted performances were attributed to some protein from silkworms (or some other crap)?

 

[DirtyWorks]

The hope would be in retroactive testing, assuming UCI would allow a third party to control and store sampling.

I was under the impression samples are being stored for about eight years. So, samples are available.

The problem then becomes the UCI. There is little pressure at the moment to have a legitimate anti-doping program. When there was pressure, they came up with an elaborate system that merely protects the riders from killing themselves only after multiple scandals involving law enforcement.

That said; they and the Pro riders' union would probably fight it.

I think they would like a system that makes sense. We've got the UCI protecting some riders Bauge, Pharmador, Wonderboy and pursuing others all over the globe for *years* to get an anti-doping positive and a few different outcomes in between those two.

Why not dope if you don't know with any certainty what the outcome of a positive would be?

Change the UCI's role to athlete advocate in anti-doping matters and let WADA do the enforcing. This would affect the IOC because of the huge number of positives that would happen.

 

[MarkvW]

Does the Rider's Union have any bargaining power?

 

[jamiephillips]

This Mario Thevis is clearly a salesman. It's a pity he didn't leave his mobile number or email address!!

 

[Ferminal]

The hope would be in retroactive testing, assuming UCI would allow a third party to control and store sampling.

The 2008 CERA retests?

 

[Semper Fidelis]

If you are being "perfectly honest" in this post then we should have reasons to doubt the quality of your honesty in other posts?

troll you must be paid by some strat unit.

 

[Oldman]

The 2008 CERA retests?

I'm thinking of a long term authority being allowed to control the testing. UCI appears to dictate when testing occurs and who gets punished. The sport's credibility could use improvement and that transparency is not evident now.

 

[Nilsson]

I was under the impression samples are being stored for about eight years. So, samples are available.

The problem then becomes the UCI. There is little pressure at the moment to have a legitimate anti-doping program. When there was pressure, they came up with an elaborate system that merely protects the riders from killing themselves only after multiple scandals involving law enforcement.



I think they would like a system that makes sense. We've got the UCI protecting some riders Bauge, Pharmador, Wonderboy and pursuing others all over the globe for *years* to get an anti-doping positive and a few different outcomes in between those two.

Why not dope if you don't know with any certainty what the outcome of a positive would be?

Change the UCI's role to athlete advocate in anti-doping matters and let WADA do the enforcing. This would affect the IOC because of the huge number of positives that would happen.

I think you are way too harsh. Name one other sport where the big guns are hunted as hard as cycling does? Name one sport that is almost idiotically obessed with rewriting history and results as much as cycling is? Name one sport where everything is questioned and (including fans) really hope that heroes will test positive and will get punished? Name one sport that, if there is only the slightes sugestion of bringing some commons sense and taking the sport in somewhat calmer water, after just eliminating multiple GT-winners gets the benefit of being a big fraud, having the greatest omerta and protecting the big guns?

It's one big paradox...

 

[MarkvW]

I'm thinking of a long term authority being allowed to control the testing. UCI appears to dictate when testing occurs and who gets punished. The sport's credibility could use improvement and that transparency is not evident now.

The riders, except the dominant ones, are relatively low paid. Even the dominant ones have a fairly short shelf-life. As a group, riders appear to be rather powerless. Imposing another "authority" and more "control" over the riders just makes the riders more powerless.

The authoritarian approach, IMO, will always keep pro cycling a tight feudal fiefdom that is controlled by a small group of insiders.

The only decent antidoping scheme is a scheme that is bargained-for between the riders and the bosses. At least that would be more fair to the riders.

 

[Velodude]

I think you are way too harsh. Name one other sport where the big guns are hunted as hard as cycling does? Name one sport that is almost idiotically obessed with rewriting history and results as much as cycling is? Name one sport where everything is questioned and (including fans) really hope that heroes will test positive and will get punished? Name one sport that, if there is only the slightes sugestion of bringing some commons sense and taking the sport in somewhat calmer water, after just eliminating multiple GT-winners gets the benefit of being a big fraud, having the greatest omerta and protecting the big guns?

It's one big paradox...

And show us another sport that ranks in the top 3 of popularity in the world, runs a lot of its events over grueling multi stages up to 20 days, operates on a 9 rider team basis, taxes competitors' endurance limits and recovery ability to the max and can return riches from success to individuals, sponsors and its controlling body.

Football codes? No. Bat/racquet/stick & ball sports? No. Aquatic sports? No? Snow sports? No. Distance running? No.

I have been involved in cycling as a competitor to an international level and recently as a commissaire, but still competing, for decades.

IMHO the watershed year came in 1998 when the public at large became limitedly aware of drugs being rife in the pro peloton through Festina being exposed for its transgressions, not through dope testing, but at an international border checkpoint.

Then a public in the know, particularly in Europe, scoffed at the absurdity of one rider winning 7 straight TdF's whilst strongly asserting and challenging through the world media that a near death experience provided him with superior powers from mythical transformations to benefit from training harder and riding clean.

 

[Nilsson]

And show us another sport that ranks in the top 3 of popularity in the world, runs a lot of its events over grueling multi stages up to 20 days, operates on a 9 rider team basis, taxes competitors' endurance limits and recovery ability to the max and can return riches from success to individuals, sponsors and its controlling body.

You really believe athletes use doping because sport is hard? Come on...

Also the toughness of cycling is somewhat over-hyped. Apart from crashes Cycling is a pretty healthy sport with relatively easy recovery. You don't need doping to be able to run 100 meters, or to ride on a bike for three weeks. You need it to be better than your competitor. In a lot of sports, where the pure physical performance is less important, there is at least as much 'help' needed, solely to even be able to play every week (soccer, tennis, etc.) because of the injury proneness. In those sports no one cares, that's the difference. No one cares about Messi's HGH use, no one cares that it's almost impossible to get him injured. There is no soccer fan that wants him out of the sport...

No doping positives in athletics, swimming, etc.? No one in those sports wants to see Usain Bolt or Micheal Phelps hang, though.

IMHO the watershed year came in 1998 when the public at large became limitedly aware of drugs being rife in the pro peloton through Festina being exposed for its transgressions, not through dope testing, but at an international border checkpoint.

Agree with that. 1998 was very important for cycling, but you mistake the cause and consequence. Because of the exposing Cycling was forced to walk todays way. Of course cycling was not being exposed because of it. Testing, a serieus anti doping policy, was the consequence of being exposed.

Something that probably was inevitable, because of the amateurism in cycling, the nature of the sport and the product being used...

Then a public in the know, particularly in Europe, scoffed at the absurdity of one rider winning 7 straight TdF's whilst strongly asserting and challenging through the world media that a near death experience provided him with superior powers from mythical transformations to benefit from training harder and riding clean./QUOTE]

I understand your point of view, but every sport has its 'phenomenons' and Armstrong as such doesn't explain the incredible fixation we all have for doping and why other sports care less about it. Probably it has more to do with the fact that there is not much else to talk about, which is quite problematic for a sport with relatively much (media) attention. There is no hooliganism, no controversial fouls or unfairly (dis)approved goals, there is rarely a great polemic, extra-sportive battle or story...

The only occasions the (negative) focus shifts away from doping is when the power battle in cycling flares up, when Hoogerland crashed in the wire, when there is something of a polemic battle between Contador and Armstrong and, of course, when 'Chain-gate' occurred. Cycling probably needs more controversial exposure like that to make doping (look) less problematic...