Posted Jul. 23, 2008
Riccò, 24, upset the big names of the sport to win two stages of
this year's Tour before he was kicked off after testing positive for
EPO (erythropoietin).
Revealing the now high-tech nature of the fight against drugs in
sport, WADA chief John Fahey said his organization worked with drugs
giant Roche on the newest version of EPO (erythropoietin).
He said Roche had included a molecule in the third generation of
EPO, called Continuous Erythropoiesis Receptor Activator (CERA) that
acted as a marker in drug tests.
"In the development of that particular substance, close cooperation
occurred between WADA and the pharmaceutical company Roche
Pharmaceuticals so that there was a molecule placed in the substance
well in advance that was always going to be able to be detected once a
test was taken," Fahey told public radio in his native Australia.
Until this year's Tour, CERA, which is released into the body more
slowly than its predecessors, had been thought to be undetectable by
drug testers.
Fahey said such cooperation with drug companies was the way forward in fighting drug cheats.
"There's more and more of this occurring," he said. "The more
cooperation the scientists can have with the drug companies in the
detection of performance-enhancing drugs the greater the likelihood is
they will be detected when tests are undertaken.
Riccò is one of
three riders to test positive for EPO at this year's tour, tarring the
race once again with a drugs controversy. He has denied using the
substance, originally designed to boost red blood cell production in
cancer and kidney patients suffering from anemia.
A spokesperson for California-based Affymax told VeloNews last week that the company, too, was cooperating with WADA in developing a test for its new drug, Hematide.
“Clearly we want to be ahead of the situation and help develop a
test,” said Affymax’s Sylvia Wheeler, adding that the synthetic
peptide-based erythropoiesis-stimulating agent (ESA) is in its final
phase of clinical trials and could reach the market in 2010.
