The supply of pharmaceutical quality nandrolone decanoate by prescription is becoming very limited within the United States. Watson Pharmaceuticals was the only pharmaceutical company producing Deca Durabolin (nandrolone decanoate) in the U.S. It was available by prescription and could be obtained at most pharmacies around the country.
Watson claimed that Deca Durabolin was discontinued in March 2007 because the raw ingredients were no longer available from the FDA-approved supplier of the powder (”AIDS activists upset by dropped wasting drug,” April 19, 2007).
Patricia Eisenhaur, director of investor relations for Watson Pharmaceuticals, confirmed that Deca-Durabolin, also known as nandrolone decanoate, an anabolic steroid prescribed by physicians to combat AIDS wasting, was discontinued on March 20.
According to Eisenhaur, the active ingredient to manufacture the drug was no longer available from the Food and Drug Administration-approved supplier. Eisenhaur was unable to provide the name of the supplier, which was the only approved manufacturer of the active ingredient.
Obviously, those familiar with black market androgens know that there is no nandrolone decanoate powder shortage. Nelson Vergel of the HIV Blog explains the real reasons why Watson discontinued production (”Important information about nandrolone in the U.S.” March 17).
The decision from the manufacturer (Watson) to stop making nandrolone decanoate (an effective injectable medicine to treat unintentional weight loss and to increase muscle mass) was based on economics and political pressure.
Watson stopped making it because:
It is a generic CHEAP drug
They can sell expensive Oxandrin instead. Oxandrin is approved for unintentional weight loss but costs $1200 a month and can cause liver toxicity in some.
Nandrolone’s indication is for anemia and no doctor uses it for that purpose, so they prescribe it legally off label.
Congress and the DEA are treating anabolics like the treat crack-cocaine and are closely watching every prescriber’s and manufacturer’s move. No HIV doc has ever got in trouble since many studies have shown nandrolone’s benefit and can justify its medical use. However, inexperienced HIV doctors who have not been around long enough to know its history shy away from prescribing due to the bad publicity and misconceptions around these medicines.
Nandrolone decanoate is still available [link removed] from a few compounding pharmacies. However, under extreme federal pressure resulting from the steroids in sports scandals, fewer and fewer compounding pharmacies are willing produce nandrolone medications. As a result, compounding pharmacies are quickly dropping nandrolone decanoate.
Applied Pharmacy stopped all production due to DEA pressure. Some compounders are making doctors sign a waiver to say they will not prescribe nandrolone for non medical uses. Some doctors feel this represents extra liability.
Applied Pharmacy is a compounding pharmacy that provided pharmaceutical quality anabolic steroid and hormone preparations to customers with medical prescriptions. They became the target of a federal probe resulting from prosecutor and political opportunist David Soares’ far reaching steroid scandal investigation. They stopped production of all anabolic steroids as a result.
Could you imagine a pharmaceutical company (whose top-selling drugs are anabolic steroids) becoming the title sponsor of a professional bodybuilding contest? What is Unimed, whose top selling drug products are Anadrol-50 (oxymetholone) and AndroGel (testosterone), sponsored the Mr. Olympia Bodybuilding contest resulting in the “Unimed Pharmaceuticals IFBB Mr. Olympia Bodybuilding Championships”?!! Or how about Savient, whose top-selling drug product is Oxandrin (oxandrolone), sponsoring the Arnold Classic resulting in the Savient Pharmaceuticals IFBB Arnold Schwarzenegger Classic Bodybuilding Championships?!! Observers would comment on the irony given that professional bodybuilding is practically synonymous with the use of anabolic steroids.
Interestingly, in the sport of professional cycling, such an unlikely sponsorship has been taking place since 2006 when the biotechnology company Amgen became the title sponsor of professional cycling’s Amgen Tour of California. One prominent cycling commentator called it the “death of irony.” You see, Amgen’s most successful product to date is Epogen (recombinant erythropoietin); it’s second best-selling drug is a long-acting version of Epogen called Aranesp (darbepoietin). Epogen is the most notorious performance-enhancing drug in cycling; Epogen is to professional cycling what anabolic steroids are to professional bodybuilding!
If the controversial title sponsorship was not enough, Tour of California organizers accidentally forgot to drug test riders for Epogen during the inaugural 2006 Amgen Tour of California. They tested for all other banned drugs but simply forgot to test for Epogen!
And why is Amgen spending $35 million sponsorship over a 5-year commitment on professional cycling? Is it because professional cyclist represent proof of the miraculous performance-enhancing effects of their products? Not exactly. Amgen’s scientific director Dr. Steven Elliott explains:
Our opportunity is to educate cyclists that there is an appropriate way to use a drug, and doping in sport is not it… Our medicines were made because we want to treat grievous illnesses. They’re not for enhancing performance in sport.
I think the sport of professional bodybuilding could use a $35 million infusion by a giant pharmaceutical company who manufacturers anabolic steroids and/or human growth hormone who could use the sponsorship as an opportunity to promote the therapeutic benefits of anabolic steroids and other performance-enhancing drugs.
But then again, along with the Amgen sponsorship of the Tour of California came pressure to expand anti-doping testing and improve anti-doping procedures.
The upcoming 2008 Amgen Tour of California cycling road race will adopt the most comprehensive anti-doping protocol in cycling history it was announced by Andrew Messick, president, AEG Sports, presenter of the race, at a press conference today.
This is something that professional bodybuilding probably does not want.
