Where Your Dreams Become Reality
|
Where Your Dreams Become Reality |
Save Big on Running Shoes Click here
|
A Brief Note on the Positive Drug Tests for Darbepoetin at the
2002 Winter Olympics At the 2002 Salt Lake City Olympics, a test for the blood boosting substance darbepoetin (often referred to by its trade name "Aranesp") was implemented for the first time at a competition by Dr. Don Catlin and his workers at the Salt Lake City drug testing lab. Darbepoetin is a drug very similar to EPO that was developed by Amgen to have longer lasting effects than EPO. At the time of the Salt Lake Olympics, athletes did not know there was a test to detect darbepoetin doping. However, due to the very similar makeup of artificial EPO and darbepoetin, Dr. Catlin and his lab had quitely come up with a method of using the urine EPO test to detect darbepoetin doping. Two medallists at the Olympics in cross country skiing, Johan Muehlegg of Spain and Larissa Lazutina of Russia, tested positive for darbepoetin and were to be stripped of their medals as a result. They appealed the decision to the Court of Arbitration for Sport, arguing among other things that using the urine EPO test to detect darbepoetin was experimental and not scientifically valid. Without getting into the science of test (if you want to know about the scientific details, read the Court of Arbitration rulings. The Muehlegg ruling is here and the Lazutina ruling here), the arbitrators accepted that the test was scientifically valid. Interestingly, some of the key testimony before the arbitration panel was presented by Dr. Steve Elliott, the man who was the lead developer in creating darbepoetin for the pharmaceutical company Amgen. Dr. Elliott had no legal obligation to testify before the panel but did so after being asked by Dr. Catlin to give his opinion on the test. Dr. Catlin had a lot of praise for Dr. Elliott's voluntary testimony saying, "He (Dr. Elliott) is a real hero in my view because he's a scientist, he's very busy, he's the one who designed darbepoetin (which is) a very valuable drug, but he did this (testify before the panel) because it was the right thing to do." Hopefully this type of cooperation from individuals associated with the companies that make these drugs will continue in the future. Sadly, these wonder drugs that do a lot of good for society, are having a very detrimental effect on sport. Click here to return to the EPO testing Q&A
| ||||||