Got a feeling (Musings on blood doping)

Last updated 10 July 2012

This blog's idea arose because the Olympics is almost upon us (2012 London Olympics, 27 July - 12 August) and there is much talk about the latest laboratory tests to detect cheats. 

Moreover, this year Big Pharma is involved with much fanfare and the specific giant pharmaceutical company (GlaxoSmithKline) has been in the news recently for quite a different reason (more below).

The title comes from a song by the US / Canadian group, The Mamas and Papas.

BLOOD DOPING
The London Olympics has revived news about drug cheats and blood doping, e.g., How do the sports compare.

Blood doping has also been in the news because Lance Armstrong, 7-time Tour de France winner is charged with doping by the US Anti-Doping Agency (USADA).

• Letter sent to Lance Armstrong and others by USADA (Quite informative)
• Contrarian view: Stop persecuting Armstrong. Time for a doping amnesty in cycling

Blood doping boosts the number of RBC to enhance athletic performance and is rampant in endurance sports such as long-distance cycling and cross-country skiing. It's been done using erythropoietin (EPO), homologous and autologous blood transfusions. Autologous blood doping has been hard to detect because dopers receive their own red cells.

MUSINGS
As long as sports is big business with mega-bucks on the line for winners, cheating will exist. Cheating at the Olympics seems particularly odious given Olympic values.

But winning a Gold Medal is often worth $millions to athletes in commercial endorsements and sponsorships.

• How much is a British gold medal worth? £2m
• USA swimmer Michael Phelps worth is estimated at $40-50 American million (8 gold medals in Beijing, 16 medals in total)

In contrast, the money that some athletes earn from their countries is small change.

• Aussie Gold for swimmers at 2012 Olympics is $35,000 a shot

Canada is late to the game and a cheapskate:

• London 2012: Canada’s coaches to get bonuses if athletes win Olympic medals

But the $millions in endorsements help explain why some athletes cheat and risk detection, e.g., Canada's sprinter Ben Johnson, who was stripped of his gold medal at the 1988 Seoul Olympics and whose physique revealed all.

As to professional athletes like US baseball slugger Barry Bonds,  you only need to look at their physiques, especially before and after photos to know who the steroid cheats are, as well as the 'steroid rage' that some players exhibit. 

Same with USA NFL football. Some of those dudes look loaded with steroids or human growth hormone and tests should detect the cheats. Also see

• Backgrounder on steroids in professional sports

As a soccer fan (aka football outside NA), I've wondered if players take performance enhancing drugs but evidence suggests otherwise, especially for players like Fernando Torres, whose physique hardly screams performance enhancers like steroids or HGH. 

Not necessarily true for 'recreational drugs' like cocaine, though. With young footballers earning mega-millions in salaries and sponsorships, it's bound to happen.

• FA defends drugs policy
• FA fights back in drugs battle after Premier League players named over failed tests

LONDON OLYMPICS 'BOFFINS'
But back to The Olympics. The London Olympics will showcase the ongoing battle between the cheats and those who aim to catch them.

• Can the scientists keep up? Twists and turns of long-running race between drug-taking athletes and boffins trying to catch them (The Economist, 3 Mar. 2012) 

It turns out that laboratory equipment for the new Olympics testing facility was supplied by GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) at a cost of £20 million:

• London 2012 Olympics: drug cheats are set to face most advanced anti-doping procedures in Games history 

This King's College London site features complimentary words on GSK by David Cowan, Director of the College's Drug Control Centre and a video by GSK:

• GSK promo on Olympic lab and testing protocols 

Here's the top boffin explaining a term that many countries have implemented to help prevent cheating:

• Athlete Biological Passport: Professor David Cowan (video, 27 June 2012)

Interestingly, GSK was in the news last week for a very different reason, settling the largest health care fraud case ever:

• GlaxoSmithKline settles drug fraud case for $3B US & guilty plea (2 July 2012) 

...[GSK]... admitted to misbranding the antidepressants ...and marketing them for uses not approved by the ... FDA, including the treatment of children for depression and the treatment of ailments such as obesity, anxiety, addiction and ADHD.

In some cases, the company did so despite warnings about possible safety risks from the FDA, such as an increased risk of suicide for children under 18 taking antidepressants.

It also admitted in the settlement that it did not provide the FDA with safety information that indicated its diabetes drug ...might cause heart problems. The drug was eventually pulled off the shelves in Europe and its sale restricted in the U.S.

Its CEO says GSK instituted reforms & learned from its mistakes. 

• An American psychiatrist's views on the American free enterprise system he loves and actions of GSK (9 July 2012)   Bit 'over the top' but fascinating. Author was a plaintiffs' medical expert in several product liability suits against GSK. 

Seems everything is spin and PR these days, certainly in politics, but also in the world of Big Pharma. Good publicity from Olympics testing lab will help put a shine on GSK and erase last week's deadly headlines about the company's incredible, unethical proven past actions.

Bottom Line
As a bloodbanker I especially hope that autologous blood doping can be stopped. And as a football / soccer fan, whose players run up and down the pitch for 90+ minutes, I hope that none are into blood doping or other cheating.

But I've got a feeling....

FOR FUN
How I feel when my sports heroes are caught out by drug tests:

• Got a Feeling (Mamas and Papas) Somewhat ironic as this group, whose songs I love, were into drugs as were many in the 1960s.
• Dancing in the Street (Because I like the song and Mama Cass's voice, and it's summer in the northern hemisphere)

FURTHER READING

• 'Blood doping' (Wikipedia) (basic principles and detection)
• EPO & blood doping
• WADA's 'Q and A' on blood doping 
• Autologous blood transfusion test could be in place for London Olympics
• Blood Doping: anti-doping strategy comes into its own (16 Mar. 2012)
• Mørkeberg J. Detection of autologous blood transfusions in athletes: a historical perspective. Transfus Med Rev 2012 July; 26(3):199-208. 

As always, the views are mine alone. Comments are most welcome BUT, due to excessive spam,  please e-mail me personally or use the address in the newsletter notice.