A major doping scandal is brewing in South Africa involving former East German head coach Dr Ekkart Arbeit (pictured), who allegedly ordered that suspicious drugs were administered to the country's top sprinter.
It is another major blow to the sport there that is still reeling from the gender row scandal involving world 800 metres champion Caster Semenya.
The Citizen newspaper claims to have seen a forensic report from auditing firm Deloitte which discovered that Athletics South Africa (ASA) head coach Arbeit allegedly instructed the team doctor to give a suspicious substance to Geraldine Pillay, the 2004 African 100 metres champion and 2006 Commonwealth Games silver medallist.
The report was compiled after Deloitte was instructed to probe ASA’s financial affairs and other irregularities in the wake of the Semenya scandal.
Before taking up his role in South Africa, Arbeit coached Britain's Olympic 2000 heptathlon champion Denise Lewis as she prepared for the defence of her title in Athens in 2004.
There is no suggestion that Arbeit administered illegal drugs to Lewis.
The South African Sports Confederation and Olympics Committee (SASCOC) has been given the report, The Citizen reported.
It is claimed that during a search of the office of ASA manager Molatelo Malehopo, they found "a small container containing a small ampule named Actovegin".
Investigators also found e-mails showing that ASA team doctor Dr Maaki Ramagole allegedly injected Pillay with the substance between April and May in 2008.
Ramagole sent Malehopo an e-mail on May 6, 2008, expressing her concerns over the administration of the drug, which is a calf-blood extract, to Pillay, who also won a bronze medal in the 200m at the 2006 Commonwealth Games in Melbourne.
Actovegin is not banned, but the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) keeps a suspicious eye on its use by athletes.
Ramagole wrote: "Hi, this is what Ekkart gave Geraldine and asked me to inject. I only checked it now on the Internet and I am worried that it is a banned substance. Please confirm with Harold [Dr Harold Adams, former ASA team doctor].”
Showing posts with label Actovegin. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Actovegin. Show all posts
Actovegin and blood spinning "Legal, hard to spot and open to misuse"
Blood spinning and Actovegin, two of the three techniques Dr Anthony Galea apparently uses, are similar to each other because they are cutting-edge sports medicine therapies that are on the edge of anti-doping regulations.
Doctors will always find cutting-edge treatments because they want to get sportspeople they are treating back on to the pitch as quickly as possible. But those treatments can come up against laws meant to prevent doping, and it is not clear what is and is not allowed.
Blood spinning is openly used and is endorsed by the English Institute of Sport. It is done to speed up recovery from injury, and involves taking some of a player's own blood, putting it into a centrifuge and separating out the platelets, or red and white blood cells, from the plasma, then reinjecting the concentrations of platelets, which look a bit like jelly.
Until now the World Anti Doping Agency's regulations have been vague, although from 1 January such injections will be allowed if they are into the joint, but not into the muscle. But there's huge potential for it to be misused, either by adding growth factors when the blood is reinjected or injecting it into the muscle. But is there really a difference between injecting it into the muscle and blood doping, which is banned by Wada?
Blood spinning would be a problem because it's very difficult to detect. A blood test won't tell you.
Human growth hormone is banned because it is a performance enhancing agent. It can promote the recovery of muscle tissue that's been damaged during hard training. It has more sophisticated benefits than steroids and is used by some bodybuilders. There are concerns about possible serious side-effects, such as the jaw, ears, teeth, hands and feet continuing to get bigger and bigger.
Actovegin is like blood spinning, except that the doctor would use an extract of calf's blood, not the patient's own blood. It's another way of getting people fit again. Media reports say that a lot of top athletes across a range of sports have tried it. The concern is that it could be a way of getting banned growth factors into the body. It's not banned, but Wada say they are closely monitoring it. The trouble is, if it's banned, can it be detected? Sadly, the answer at the moment is no.
Doctors will always find cutting-edge treatments because they want to get sportspeople they are treating back on to the pitch as quickly as possible. But those treatments can come up against laws meant to prevent doping, and it is not clear what is and is not allowed.
Blood spinning is openly used and is endorsed by the English Institute of Sport. It is done to speed up recovery from injury, and involves taking some of a player's own blood, putting it into a centrifuge and separating out the platelets, or red and white blood cells, from the plasma, then reinjecting the concentrations of platelets, which look a bit like jelly.
Until now the World Anti Doping Agency's regulations have been vague, although from 1 January such injections will be allowed if they are into the joint, but not into the muscle. But there's huge potential for it to be misused, either by adding growth factors when the blood is reinjected or injecting it into the muscle. But is there really a difference between injecting it into the muscle and blood doping, which is banned by Wada?
Blood spinning would be a problem because it's very difficult to detect. A blood test won't tell you.
Human growth hormone is banned because it is a performance enhancing agent. It can promote the recovery of muscle tissue that's been damaged during hard training. It has more sophisticated benefits than steroids and is used by some bodybuilders. There are concerns about possible serious side-effects, such as the jaw, ears, teeth, hands and feet continuing to get bigger and bigger.
Actovegin is like blood spinning, except that the doctor would use an extract of calf's blood, not the patient's own blood. It's another way of getting people fit again. Media reports say that a lot of top athletes across a range of sports have tried it. The concern is that it could be a way of getting banned growth factors into the body. It's not banned, but Wada say they are closely monitoring it. The trouble is, if it's banned, can it be detected? Sadly, the answer at the moment is no.
Thaigertropin - Tiger Woods linked to Canadian doctor's HGH scandal.
A Canadian doctor who has treated many N.F.L. players as well as Olympic medalists like Donovan Bailey and the world’s top golfer, Tiger Woods, is under criminal investigation in the United States. He is suspected of providing athletes with performance-enhancing drugs, according to several people who have been briefed on the investigation.
The F.B.I. investigation of Dr. Anthony Galea, a sports medicine specialist who has treated hundreds of professional athletes across many sports, follows his arrest on Oct. 15 in Toronto by the Canadian police. Human growth hormone and Actovegin, a drug extracted from calf’s blood, were found in his medical bag at the United States-Canada border in late September. Using, selling or importing Actovegin is illegal in the United States.
Dr. Galea is also being investigated by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police for smuggling, advertising and selling unapproved drugs as well as criminal conspiracy. He is tentatively scheduled to appear in a Canadian courtroom on Friday.
I hadn't previously heard of Actovegin, here's a brief description taken from it's product insert :
Actovegin® is a Deproteinized Hemoderivative of Calf Blood that is obtained by ultra-filtration. The Deproteinized Hemoderivative of Calf Blood contains only physiological components, anorganic substances socle as electrolytes and essential trace elements and 30% of organic components as amino acids, oligopeptides, nucleosides, intermediary products of the carbohydrate and of the fat metabolism, and components of the cellular membranes as glycosphingolipids. One of the physiologic components of Actovegin® is inositol phospho-oligosaccharides ( IPOs ). These compounds are thought to possess central and peripheral insulin effects, suggesting that a therapeutic benefit could be obtained in disorders of impaired glucose utilization. The molecular weight of the organic components is below 6000 Dalton.
Pharmacodynamics:
The active components in Actovegin® promote glucose uptake by cerebral and skeletal muscle and other cells and stimulate intrinsic glucose transport by regulating glucose carrier GluT1; Actovegin® activates piruvate-dehydrogenase (PDH) and thereby leads to increased utilization of glucose by cells and formation of energy-rich substances ("insulin-like·effect). (Oberermaier-Kusser et al. 1989;) Actovegin® also increases uptake and utilization of oxygen by hypoxic tissues and cells (which can be proven by Warburg's test) via promoting mitochondrial respiratory function and decreases formation of lactate, as a result, it protects hypoxic tissue. (Machicao, 1993; Kununaka et al. 1991)
Sounds pretty nasty to me :-(
The F.B.I. investigation of Dr. Anthony Galea, a sports medicine specialist who has treated hundreds of professional athletes across many sports, follows his arrest on Oct. 15 in Toronto by the Canadian police. Human growth hormone and Actovegin, a drug extracted from calf’s blood, were found in his medical bag at the United States-Canada border in late September. Using, selling or importing Actovegin is illegal in the United States.
Dr. Galea is also being investigated by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police for smuggling, advertising and selling unapproved drugs as well as criminal conspiracy. He is tentatively scheduled to appear in a Canadian courtroom on Friday.
I hadn't previously heard of Actovegin, here's a brief description taken from it's product insert :
Actovegin® is a Deproteinized Hemoderivative of Calf Blood that is obtained by ultra-filtration. The Deproteinized Hemoderivative of Calf Blood contains only physiological components, anorganic substances socle as electrolytes and essential trace elements and 30% of organic components as amino acids, oligopeptides, nucleosides, intermediary products of the carbohydrate and of the fat metabolism, and components of the cellular membranes as glycosphingolipids. One of the physiologic components of Actovegin® is inositol phospho-oligosaccharides ( IPOs ). These compounds are thought to possess central and peripheral insulin effects, suggesting that a therapeutic benefit could be obtained in disorders of impaired glucose utilization. The molecular weight of the organic components is below 6000 Dalton.
Pharmacodynamics:
The active components in Actovegin® promote glucose uptake by cerebral and skeletal muscle and other cells and stimulate intrinsic glucose transport by regulating glucose carrier GluT1; Actovegin® activates piruvate-dehydrogenase (PDH) and thereby leads to increased utilization of glucose by cells and formation of energy-rich substances ("insulin-like·effect). (Oberermaier-Kusser et al. 1989;) Actovegin® also increases uptake and utilization of oxygen by hypoxic tissues and cells (which can be proven by Warburg's test) via promoting mitochondrial respiratory function and decreases formation of lactate, as a result, it protects hypoxic tissue. (Machicao, 1993; Kununaka et al. 1991)
Sounds pretty nasty to me :-(
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