EPO usage - not just for elite athletes anymore

You would be surprised what some people will do for divisional awards/records.

Very sad.

Is it that easy to get??

Not something I want but like I said, I am surprised about the not elites using it.

How much improvement would that average runner get out of it?

And all for some divisional awards?

So lame.

Didn't Eddy Hallybuck (ok spelled wrong I am sure) get busted for that stuff????

Doesn't EPO cost thousands of dollars a month? I bet the drug is some kind of Andro or DHEA which you can by anywhere.

noNameMcgee wrote:

Is it that easy to get??

Not something I want but like I said, I am surprised about the not elites using it.

Balco listed the price at about $1000 for 16 weeks (about $63/week). Normally you inject it, or use it in an IV drip (although Balco had an oral version, I believe was a pill or might have been a liquid. Not sure if this is still available).

But the bigger cost is some kind of "expert" to administer it. It's not easy to give yourself an IV drip and know if your doing it correctly or in the right amount.

The better question is not getting the drugs (those are easy to obtain and fairly cheap - I believe if you google search, you can find them from online, off-shore "drug stores"), the trick is finding an "expert" to help administer it.

Yes. You can do a search and come up with 100 sites that sell it. Now administering it is worse than steroids in that it can KILL you. Not in the long term, but too much EPO and your blood thickens and you die.

Is it Leggy Foo girl and Brooks Fleet Feet Sacramento? lol

Another thought -

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Erythropoietin

Therapeutic human erythropoietin was initially isolated and purified from urine in 1977. In 1983, the gene coding for erythropoietin was identified by a team headed by Fu-Kuen Lin at U.S. biotechnology company Amgen. Researchers at The Genetics Insitute (now part of Wyeth) independently discovered the gene at approximately the same time. The resulting patent dispute led to Amgen gaining exclusive marketing rights for erythropoietin in the U.S. Recombinant DNA technology was used to express the protein in Chinese hamster ovary cells, which allowed a synthetic form of EPO (rEPO) to be produced in commercial quantities for the first time.

Recombinant EPO was launched as a pharmaceutical product by Amgen for treatment of anemia resulting from chronic renal failure in 1989 under the brand name Epogen. In 1991 it was also approved for treating anemia resulting from cancer chemotherapy. However, recent clinical studies on patients with head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) and breast carcinoma, in addition to relevant basic science research have demonstrated that patients whose tumors are positive for the erythropoietin receptor (EpoR) may be at increased risk of tumor progression (metastatic spread) if treated with Epo. Johnson & Johnson (J&J), an American pharmaceutical company, markets EPO under license from Amgen for cancer chemotherapy under the brand name Procrit. Amgen’s patents have so far prevented other companies from entering the U.S. market. Even though the patents are all based on work done in the early 1980s, the last of them will not expire until 2015, thirty-two years after the date of the original application.

[snip]

By far the most common side-effect for any EPO products is fever. Also, use of EPO products can lead to an increased chance of the formation of blood clots (see below). Headache, nausea, vomiting, and delerium are also common side-effects. These generally subside after 2-3 days. Fever lasting longer than 3 days or rising above 103 degrees Farenheit should be reported to your physician immediately. Concomminant use of aspirin with EPO products is encouraged to reduce the chance of clotting.

All forms of recombinant erythropoeitin are expensive. A dialysis patient, who can expect to require lifelong EPO treatment, will pay up to $10,000 per year for the drug in the U.S. Cancer chemotherapy patients, who require EPO for shorter periods, pay about $1,000 per month in the U.S. Worldwide revenues for sales of EPO were over USD$10 billion in 2004[1]

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Addtionally, This year Amgen has developed a drug called dynEPO.

If Dynepo becomes available as a pharmaceutical product in 2006 as expected, it may be a boon to doping athletes. It is to be manufactured in cultured human cells and should thus have an authentic pattern of human glycosylation, making it undetectable by the current test method.

Ah....an unsigned post about an unnamed person, and the poster doesn't want to report it....sounds real to me!

How are you "staying out of it" by posting on letsrun?

You're just being a dick. You didn't get a phone call. No shit has hit any fan. And the only work karma will be doing is to ensure your own continued sub-elite performances.

I won't call you "clueless." But how about "classless"?

How are you "staying out of it" by posting on letsrun?

You're just being a dick. You didn't get a phone call. No shit has hit any fan. And the only work karma will be doing is to ensure your own continued sub-elite performances.

I won't call you "clueless." But how about "classless"?

ccc wrote:

Ah....an unsigned post about an unnamed person, and the poster doesn't want to report it....sounds real to me!

Exactly. Look, noNameMcgee, this is bullshit: if you know you're right, say what you know, or don't say anything. I and many other PAUSATF masters deserve as much.

I am glad that the facts about Sam Hirabayashi will finally be revealed. He has stolen from other masters for too long.

No, he didn't. He is clean. This is the kind of thing a person would admit to after being caught. Obviously the system is wrong and he was just a victim.

Poor bastard. I welcome Eddie and his C-league Kenyans with open arms.

You sir are a butthole.

A dirty and fould butthole at that.

noNameMcgee wrote:

Is it that easy to get??

Not something I want but like I said, I am surprised about the not elites using it.

It sounds more like you want to get your hand on it.

Just goto Switzerland and get a vial and bring it home in your iced thermos.

You are probably some open runner who got his ass handed to him by a masters runner and now you want to bring him down.

Go back to your ipod emo boy!

Shut up loser!