The 2008 Growth Hormone Summit was held by the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA in conjunction with Major League Baseball (MLB) and the law firm of Foley and Lardner at the Beverly Hills Hotel in California on November 10, 2008. Dr. Gary Green, professor of family medicine at the UCLA medical school, chaired the conference of leading anti-doping experts and scholars. “Growth Hormone: Barriers to Implementation of hGH in Sports” addressed several scientific, legal and ethical issues involving testing athletes for human growth hormone (“Landmark conference to look at use of human growth hormone by athletes,” October 22).
- understanding the currently available methods for identifying use of hGH and understanding the viability of urine testing for hGH in the future;
- building a consensus on the most effective methods of implementing widespread blood testing for abuse of hGH;
- identifying future strategies for hGH testing; and
- understanding the United States Laws regarding the regulation and distribution of hGH
The current state of HGH testing involves blood testing. Anti-doping expert Don Catlin supervised growth hormone testing at the 2008 Beijing Olympics which involved approximately 1,000 blood samples; no athlete tested positive for HGH. In fact, no athlete has ever tested positive for human growth hormone using this test which has led many experts to question the effectiveness of the test (“Officials Question a Blood Test That Is Never Positive,” November 10)
Three hours into a conference held Monday by Major League Baseball on human growth hormone, the real question of the day emerged when officials from the commissioner’s office and the players union wondered aloud about how effective the current blood test for human growth hormone was if no one had tested positive.
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Osquel Barroso, the senior manager of science for the World Anti-Doping Agency, was one such expert invited to the conference. WADA, which oversees the testing of Olympic athletes, has tested 8,500 athletes for human growth hormone since 2000 and has never had a test come back positive.
The big news at the Growth Hormone Summit was the increasingly viable urine test for human growth hormone that utilizes nanotechnology to identify urinary HGH markers. Don Catlin, CEO of Anti-Doping Research and Professor Emeritus at the UCLA School of Medicine is collaborating with Lance Liotta, MD, PhD of George Mason University to validate the utility of this test for WADA
(“Researchers say they’re getting closer to HGH test,” November 11)
Don Catlin, a Los Angeles-based worldwide doping expert who oversaw blood testing for HGH at the Beijing Olympics, and Dr. Lance Liotta, a former pathology lab chief at the National Cancer Institute’s Center for Cancer Research, have launched a study to build upon Liotta’s ability to identify isolated markers of HGH in urine.
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“This is a groundbreaking step that’ll change the game a bit,” Catlin said Monday at a first-ever Growth Hormone Summit staged at the Beverly Hills Hotel.
Don Catlin is becoming increasingly confident that the new nanotechnology urine test for human growth hormone will offer the ideal solution for HGH testing in sports. Many athletes have objected to the invasive nature of blood testing for HGH which previously seemed to be the only anti-doping measure capable of detecting molecules of such small size. But the nanotechnology technique has apparently overcome that obstacle (“MLB takes part in HGH summit,” November 11)
“That is what is exciting about what Dr. Liotta is doing. He has a technique that we think will do that,” Catlin said. “It is really brilliant.”
Ceres Nanosciences has patented the nanotechnology method of collecting HGH in the urine for analysis by standard lab testing equipment (“Scientists say breakthrough urine test for HGH developed,” July 23)
Virginia-based Ceres Nanosciences, partnered with George Mason University in Fairfax, Va., and Italy’s Istituto Superiore di Sanità, could have the test on the market within six months, company CEO Thomas Dunlap says. Ceres’ intention was first reported by the Washington Business Journal.
Widespread adoption of the test probably would depend on lengthy scientific reviews by anti-doping authorities, leagues and players unions. World Anti-Doping Agency representatives had a conference call with Ceres officials last week, WADA spokesman Frederic Donze says.
In the meantime, should any athletes test positive for human growth hormone, famed doping defense attorney Howard Jacobs was in attendance at the Growth Hormone Summit learning about the weaknesses and challenges of HGH testing that could be useful should he represent a “HGH-positive client” (“Researchers say they’re getting closer to HGH test,” November 11)
Southland attorney Howard Jacobs, who defended cyclist Floyd Landis in his doping case after Landis was stripped of his 2006 Tour de France title, said the summit raised “a lot of questions” that he would likely explore if he ever represents an HGH-positive client. “They haven’t validated any positive athlete samples,” Jacobs said. “You have to wonder how many studies they’ve conducted, plus there’s collection and transport issues.”
The human growth hormone conference also featured the following anti-doping experts and scholars.
- Moutian Wu, laboratory director for the 2008 Beijing Olympics; National Anti-Doping Laboratory and the China Anti-Doping Agency
- Anthony W. Butch, director of the UCLA Olympic Analytical Laboratory
- Dr. Don H. Catlin, founder and director of Anti-Doping Research
- Alan Goldhammer, vice president for scientific and regulatory affairs for Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America
- Dr. Richard I.G. Holt, professor of diabetes and endocrinology at the University of Southampton School of Medicine (U.K.)
- Dr. Lance Liotta, co-director of the Center for Applied Proteomics and Molecular Medicine at George Mason University
- Robert D. Manfred Jr., executive vice president for labor relations and human resources for Major League Baseball
- Matthew J. Mitten, professor of law and director of the National Sports Law Institute at Marquette University Law School
- Thomas H. Murray, president and CEO of the Hastings Center
- Dr. Thomas T. Perls, director of the New England Centenarian Study
- Dr. Douglas E. Rollins, executive director of the Sports Medicine Research and Testing Laboratory
- Travis T. Tygart, CEO of the United States Anti-Doping Agency (USADA)
- Frank D. Uryasz, president of the National Center for Drug-Free Sport.
About the author
Millard writes about anabolic steroids and performance enhancing drugs and their use and impact in sport and society. He discusses the medical and non-medical uses of anabolic-androgenic steroids while advocating a harm reduction approach to steroid education.
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