New test promises doping breakthrough

The International Olympic Committee said the new Cera blood test would be used to analyse almost 1,000 blood samples collected during the Beijing Games, and an IOC spokeswoman added that these samples could also be tested for autologous transfusions “if a method is fully validated by the scientific community (and) WADA.” By Richard Moore.

Cyclists may be in for a further shock after the introduction of a test for third-generation EPO because it has emerged that anti-doping authorities may be on the verge of another major breakthrough. There is growing speculation that a test for previously undetectable blood transfusions will be introduced and used to analyse blood samples collected at this year’s Tour de France and Beijing Olympics, after comments made by the head of the French anti-doping agency, Pierre Bordry.

The World Anti-Doping Agency confirmed that the new test was in the offing but would not say if it had been approved. Olivier Rabin, the director of science at WADA, said: “We do not indicate when a test is ready, so as not to warn athletes. We are looking for specific methods to reveal autologous blood transfusions, but as of today these methods are not implemented — they’re still at the validation stage. But (a test) is coming.”

Autologous transfusions involve the removal and re-injection of an athlete’s own blood and was previously undetectable. A test for homologous transfusions — the transfusion of someone else’s blood — has been available since 2000.

There are echoes here of the surprise introduction, during the Tour, of a test for Cera, the so-called “third generation EPO”. Three riders failed urine tests for Cera during the Tour and another two — Stefan Schumacher and Leonardo Piepoli — were declared positive after tests by the French anti-doping agency on blood collected at the time.

Speculation over a possible new test for autologous transfusions, which duplicate the effect of EPO in increasing the flow of oxygen-carrying red blood cells and so helping endurance, followed claims made by Bordry to German television.

Bordry said his agency had “serious evidence about cases of autologous transfusions (during the Tour)”. “Soon,” added Bordry, “we will be able to prove autologous transfusions and we will then test (for) it.”

On the Cera test, Rabin confirmed that Roche Holding AG, the Swiss pharmaceutical company that developed the latest brand of EPO, had “collaborated with us for four years. This is a typical example of what we’re doing now. We try to anticipate trends and new products in order to develop tests before these products become commercially available.” Cera was approved in Europe in July 2007.

Rabin added that the big breakthrough was likely not to come with the development of the single test for autologous transfusions but with the introduction of the “athlete’s passport”, tracking their blood values. “Until now the analysis of blood or urine samples has been like looking at a single picture,” said Rabin. “But the passport is more like a movie, where you can follow the movement of the parameters. The athlete therefore becomes his own point of reference.”

Like the autologous transfusion test, the passport is also on its way, confirmed Rabin.

“With the passport, if there are abnormal variations then we can target the athlete for testing,” said Rabin.

“But we are also discussing with our legal teams how we might penalise the athlete based not on a positive test but on such abnormalities, which would indicate doping.”

Meanwhile, Schumacher’s Stuttgart home was searched by the German authorities, who removed documents for examination and confirmed a fraud investigation against the cyclist, who won two stages and wore the yellow jersey during this year’s Tour.