Confiscated black market products and nutritional supplements with non‐approved ingredients analyzed in the cologne doping control laboratory 2009

Abstract

Doping control laboratories are frequently confronted with new substances that may be misused by athletes. Besides new pharmaceuticals, where method development for their detection is dependent on the availability of the substance and corresponding administration studies, some professional and amateur athletes are using illicit 'black market' products, which either differ from known pharmaceuticals but cause similar effects or still are undergoing clinical trials and are therefore rarely available to doping control laboratories. In the Cologne Doping Control Laboratory, different confiscated products and legally obtained nutritional supplements were analyzed in 2009, and various findings were reported including GH-labelled injection vials without any pharmacologically active content; combinations of products indicating the attempt to mask growth hormone abuse; unpurified long-R(3) -IGF-1; nutritional supplements containing the growth hormone releasing peptide-2 (GHRP-2); and ampoules containing the selective androgen receptor modulator Andarine (S-4). This review provides an overview on the substances that were analyzed in 2009. Ingredients relevant for doping control were identified by means of liquid chromatography and mass spectrometry methods. The awareness of new products on the black market and in nutritional supplements is of utmost importance for laboratories to develop detection methods accordingly and screen for new substances as early as possible.

Counterfeit drugs and pharmaceutical preparations seized from the black market among bodybuilders

“…The applied methods do not allow the detection of trace amounts, therefore liquid chromatography and mass spectrometry methods with the use of deuterated internal standards are more suitable. Despite the reported illegal use of protein-and peptide-based substances and selective androgen receptor modulators in elite and amateur sport, no products labeled as such were present in the preparations seized [5].…”

“…The identification of active ingredients in confiscated illegally distributed anabolic steroid products and/or black market drugs was previously reported by Walters et al (1990), Musshoff et al (1997), Ritsch et al (2000), Thevis et al (2008) [1][2][3][4] and Kohler et al (2009) [5].…”

The use of dietary supplements by professional athletes

“…In spite of the fact that the market offers numerous permitted supplementary products, marketed as FS, their administration is not absolutely safe and hides certain real risks for the sportsmen because the post-production FS quality and quantity control is not mandatory unlike that on medicinal products. This is the major factor underlying the alarming reports published by numerous researchers revealing undeclared substances in FS [4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13]. The lack of obligatory analytical control and the liberal regulation policy on FS can cause: incorporation of deliberately undeclared substances; accidental pollution during production (accidental mixing of banned substances and the supplement) or false products.…”

Detection of Growth Hormone Releasing Peptides in Serum by a Competitive Receptor Binding Assay

“…Besides, their ergogenic ability has been reported, so they are becoming very appreciated as substances of abuse by cheating athletes that seek new alternatives to traditional doping [12,13]. In fact, several of these GHRPs are available in the black market and can be obtained easily on the Internet [14,15]. Consequently, the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) incorporated GHRPs in its Prohibited List of doping substances since 2013, and must be detectable by anti-doping laboratories [16].…”