Power blogger Michael Arrington of TechCrunch has been called one of the most powerful and influential figures on the internet by TIME Magazine, Wired Magazine and Forbes. Arrington recently identified the secret pharmaceutical weapon that is the “drug of choice” for Silicon Valley’s entrepreneurs and executives – modafinil more commonly known by the trade name Provigil (“How Many Silicon Valley Startup Executives Are Hopped Up On Provigil?,” July 15).

But since the main effect of Provigil is to keep you awake and able to concentrate, a lot of people who get their hands on it use it to be able to work longer hours, even though it has not been deemed safe for that kind of use.

Recreational Provigil user testimonials are all over the web. Not only are people able to work with little or no sleep, the drug has the advantage of spurring weight loss and some users report a general mood enhancing side effect. The U.S. military has also reportedly tested it on helicopter and F117 pilots to see if they remain effective for up to 88 hours without sleep.

There are few side effects to Provigil compared to stimulants and it is supposedly not habit forming. That, of course, doesn’t mean it’s safe to take it just to be able to stay awake for 20 hours a day.

What’s so funny is that entrepreneurs apparently aren’t interested in typical drugs – instead they find the one that gives them a mental and stamina advantage. Perhaps some enterprising venture capitalist will start requiring founders of their companies to get a prescription in order to close on an investment.

Michael Arrington post on Provigil, while not an endorsement of the performance enhancing drug for entrepreneurial doping, is expected to have a considerable impact. After all, TIME, Wired and Forbes feel Arrington is influential for a very good reason (“TechCrunch Blogger Michael Arrington Can Generate Buzz … and Cash,” June 22, 2007).

To the world outside Silicon Valley’s tight-knit community of startups, venture capitalists, and angel investors, TechCrunch is just another mouthy blog. But to entrepreneurs in the white-hot consumer Internet boom — known to many as Web 2.0 — Arrington has become a power broker…

[...]

VCs and entrepreneurs read Arrington for the same reason they pay attention to any top journalist or columnist: He’s smart, sourced up, and ahead of the curve. “He has more information than any of us,” says David Hornik… Arrington breaks news… well ahead of the mainstream media.

Commenters on the TechCrunch post were quick to share their experiences with Provigil as well as their criticisms of the irresponsibility of Arrington’s post. Cephalon, the manufacturer of Provigil, quickly sent Arrington an email clarifying the medical indications of Provigil. In response, Michael Arrington felt obligated to modify the original post:

i made a few modifications to the post. i guess I thought most (all) people would just assume that it’s sort of idiotic to take prescription medication without talking to a doctor.

Michael Arrington needs to be careful when he steps outside the comfort zone of business and technology news and into the societal hysteria on doping – whether it is sports doping, academic doping, or corporate doping. Then the discussion becomes a little less rational.

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©2010 Steroid Report. All Rights Reserved.

Matthew Wong is not your average 17-year old high school student. He is an innovative entrepreneur, lacking in his legal education, who used the internet to order raw steroid powder from China to manufacture and distribute anabolic steroids in extracurricular chemistry and marketing experiments. Unlike his high school classmates, Wong has been in jail for the past two weeks socializing with Tarrant County criminals (“Steroid labs in Tarrant area are processing powder bought online,” April 23).

The arrests came after a two-month investigation prompted by a tip, Grapevine police Lt. Todd Dearing said. Matthew Wong, 17, of Grapevine was arrested April 10 on suspicion of possession of controlled substances and dangerous drugs and on suspicion of delivery of controlled substances. The charges range from state jail felonies to second-degree felonies, Dearing said. Wong remained in the Tarrant County Jail on Tuesday with bail set at $26,000.

Police say Wong sold an undercover officer steroids numerous times. According to an arrest warrant affidavit, Wong most recently met the undercover officer on Feb. 21 in a restaurant parking lot, where the officer bought 21.8 grams of Oxymetholone, a strong steroid, and 19.6 grams of testosterone from Wong for $310.

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©2010 Steroid Report. All Rights Reserved.

Confirm Biosciences has released a new home anabolic steroid testing kit this month. CNBC’s Sports Biz with Darren Rovell thinks it would be useful for parents to test their children for steroid use. Athletes may found it useful and convenient to monitor the elimination of banned substances from their bodies.

STEROIDCONFIRM™ enables sports trainers, employers and parents to test individuals who they suspect may be abusing steroids. Simply take a urine specimen at home, in the workplace or at school, and mail to our laboratory using the pre-paid shipping pak. You have the option to perform a confidential test (no personal information is required) or a test with a Chain of Custody…

Using Liquid Chromatograph Tandem Mass Spectrometry (LC/MS/MS), the most sophisticated and sensitive technology available for the steroid testing community, STEROIDCONFIRM™ can accurately quantify substances well below the cut-off levels. Each specimen is tested directly with this instrument – there is no screening process.

Confirm Biosciences claims the SteroidConfirm steroid testing kit is comparable to the steroid panels used by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA). This may be misleading.

STEROIDCONFIRM™ is comparable to World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) panels, detecting a full list of prescription androgenic anabolic steroids, prohormones, designer anabolic steroids, essential masking agents, anti-estrogen agents and diuretics.

But the SteroidConfirm description only claims to identify 11 anabolic steroids, 5 metabolites, and 1 beta-2 agonist. This doesn’t come close to approaching the number of anabolic steroids included in the WADA doping tests. SteroidConfirm advertises the detection of the following 17 substances (mostly steroids and their metabolites).

» Tetrahydrogestrinone (THG)
 » Boldenone (Equipoise)
 » Hydroxyboldenone (Metabolite)
 » Clostebol (Steranobol)
 » Clenbuterol
 » Dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA)
 » Testosterone
 » Epitestosterone
 » Oxymesterone (Oranabol)
 » Oxandrolone (Anavar)
 » Methyloxandrolone (Metabolite)
 » Stanozolol (Winstrol)
 » Hydroxystanozolol (Metabolite)
 » Flouxymesterone (Halotestin)
 » 6B-Hydroxyflouxymesterone (Metabolite)
 » Androsterone
 » 19-Norandrosterone (Metabolite)

Several popular anabolic steroids are apparently not included in the testing. These include Anadrol (oxymetholone), Dianabol (methandrostenolone), Trenbolone, Masteron (drostanolone propionate), Primobolan (methenolone), and Proviron (mesterolone).

Deca Durabolin (nandrolone decanoate) is not included either; however, I think a positive result for the metabolite 19-norandrosterone will effectively detect the use of any nandrolone based steroids (Deca, Laurabolin, Dynabolan, Anadur, etc).

It is possible that some of the steroids I mentioned will be detected by discovery of some of the 5 metabolites that SteroidConfirm does test for. But it would seem that the Confirm Biosciences marketing department would be certain to mention this if it were true.

Otherwise, I think suggesting that the steroid testing kit is comparable to WADA panels is a bit of a stretch. The steroid testing kit is not nearly as comprehensive at the company would like you and your $145 believe.

(Hat tip to Steroid Nation for link to CNBC story.)

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©2010 Steroid Report. All Rights Reserved.

While the controversy and debate over the use of anabolic steroids and growth hormone in sports continues, little attention is paid to the use of Adderall and Provigil in academia. Cycling Fans Anonymous discusses an interesting article that appeared in the New York Times earlier this month.

Doping in academia is common, with Provigil and Adderall being the drugs of choice amongst professors and students at university. Apparently these drugs make it possible to concentrate without getting distracted for long periods of time, and to never get sleepy when pulling an all-nighter.

The New York Times compares doping in sports to doping in academia (“Brain enhancement is wrong, right?” March 9).

But is prescription tweaking to perform on exams, or prepare presentations and grants, really the same as injecting hormones to chase down a home run record, or win the Tour de France?

There was no shortage of people cited who saw ethical concerns with the use of drugs like Adderall and Provigil for non-medical purposes.  

Some argue that such use could be worse, given the potentially deep impact on society. And the behavior of academics in particular, as intellectual leaders, could serve as an example to others.

But I was surprised to see one professor go on record in defense of pharmaceutical cognitive enhancement.

“I think the analogy with sports doping is really misleading, because in sports it’s all about competition, only about who’s the best runner or home run hitter,” said Martha Farah, director of the Center for Cognitive Neuroscience at the University of Pennsylvania. “In academics, whether you’re a student or a researcher, there is an element of competition, but it’s secondary. The main purpose is to try to learn things, to get experience, to write papers, to do experiments. So in that case if you can do it better because you’ve got some drug on board, that would on the face of things seem like a plus.”

Dr. Mariah Farah didn’t offer a defense of doping in general (as Professor Norm Fost has done in defense of doping in sports). Dr. Farah comments almost appeared to be an elitist defense – doping in sports is about competition and winning but doping in academia is about learning. Therefore, Farah seemingly suggests that the nobleness of learning may justify doping whereas the selfish competitiveness of sports is unjustified.

Doping for eggheads is good, but doping for athletes is bad.

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©2010 Steroid Report. All Rights Reserved.