There is an article on herald sun re the non dangerous approved wada injection that is curing everyone
Now that the season is semi over I am back all about ASADA and sitting right been confident
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Trust me. This still has a lot more to play out.
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The latest Hun article ( behind paywall more effective than Trump’s wall) headlines that a number of clubs have rejected using the wonder experimental drug.
Apparently the 5O or so AFL players accessing the drug are not doing so under clinical trials, but under the TGA SAS scheme. That is probably no less safe than under a clinical trial, but there is uneasiness at how the results of the treatment will be presented , as well as the prominence given to AFL players in regard to possible successes ( as disease modifying properties in addition to pain relief).
There is a push to use “real world evidence/experience” of SAS type procedures to supplement the outcomes of clinical trials as a selling point . While they would not be given the same weighting as clinical trials, it could be distorting to use the performance of young, fit and healthy footballers on the field - who might otherwise live normal lives off the field - to support the more rigorous - ethics cleared- clinical trials of those of a wider age range in the general population who may have substantially different health and fitness and who are unable to perform some everyday tasks.
To that extent, the players are being used. The AFLPA should be developing a policy, to fill the AFL vacuum.
PS: Apparently the wonder drug is also used to treat camels.
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Leading sports doctor Peter Larkins warns on use of breakthrough pain drug by AFL clubs MICHAEL WARNER, Herald Sun April 9, 2018 12:10amA TOP medico says AFL doctors hold concerns about the safety of a breakthrough pain drug being used in a collision sport.
Leading sports physician Peter Larkins said he was surprised some AFL club doctors were “experimenting” with injections of pentosan polysulfate sodium, a drug initially designed as a blood thinner.
“Most clubs said: ‘No, we’re not touching it. We’re not allowed to use experimental drugs, it’s not licenced for joint treatment and we don’t want a player taking a blood thinner playing contact footy’,” Dr Larkins said.
“Imagine if a concussed player ends up with a cerebral bleed because he’s on a blood thinner.
“It’s all theory, but if you look at the reason this drug exists, it exists as a blood thinner — that’s the No. 1 thing it was designed for. And no one even knows why it works, they don’t know if it’s an anti-inflammatory, they don’t know if it improves the joint fluid, maybe it reduces the bone edema, and we’ve got to find out because it might be the biggest thing, and in five years time we might all be on it.”
More questions have been raised about AFL clubs using a breakthrough pain drug.
Paradigm Biopharmaceuticals, the company behind the drug, says doctors at seven AFL clubs are accessing the substance under the Therapeutic Goods Administration’s “special access scheme”.It is also being used in a separate clinical trial but Larkins said he had spoken to several AFL club doctors “who just won’t go near it”.
Leading sports medico Dr Peter Larkins has warned about the drug.
“It’s not proven yet, they don’t want to experiment and use their players as guinea pigs, and they’re concerned about the bleeding potential,” Larkins said.
“You can’t say 100 per cent that bleeding is not a problem.
“Some people react more strongly to drugs than others — and we are talking about a collision sport. Think about the head knocks, corked thighs or a sprained ankle that fills up with blood really badly.
“I’m sympathetic to the fact that we’ve got a big problem with arthritis in current footballers and past players — we need better treatment because there are plenty of guys out there struggling — but I’m surprised in the current environment of supplements and peptides and experimental drugs that this particular drug is getting a run.
“It’s very brave.”
Larkins said the drug had been used for many years to treat injured racehorses and greyhounds.
“They found it was making a difference to joint pain and joint stiffness,” he said.
“Imagine if a concussed player ends up with a cerebral bleed because he’s on a blood thinner.”
Asked about the AFL’s views on the drug, Larkins said: “They have been a little bit vague and it has confused people because they have basically said: ‘Look, it’s not banned as a drug in Australia because it’s allowed to be used for inflamed bladders and as a blood thinner, and it’s up to the club doctor to decide if he believes he’s got a player who consents to using it and it’s the right treatment for him.
“The onus is on the club doctor to make sure that he is using a product that is safe.”
But Larkins said he hoped the clinical trial was a success.
“They (Paradigm) want to show that it works and that it doesn’t cause bleeding or other side affects, but it’s not proven yet, and certainly not in active AFL players who are out there getting bumped and hit and smashed up,” he said.
“But I welcome research which will assist in the management of arthritis, it’s a significant health burden in Australia.”
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Now,all we need are the views of the Ministers for Health and Sport.
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Their too busy wondering what to do re current polls. 
■■■■ I hope no Essendon player is using it!
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Allan Hird proves that Dept of Health misled former Sports minister Hunt.
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“The onus is on the club doctor to make sure that he is using a product that is safe.”
That’s not what ASADA or WADA claim.
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I though it was up to the athlete.
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Could be a role for the ACCC in this.
Reportedly Paradigm has bought up 20 years of supply of PPS from the German manufacturer, is supplying it free to those in the TGA SAS scheme. It is unknown whether Paradigm is attaching any strings to access, but evidently it will use those results to promote the product.
There are two club doctors from a sports med clinic with affiliations to Paradigm.
Diesel and Walker are being heavily used to promote the product. Are they receiving any benefits for doing this?
At the least there are questionable ethics which Harcourt/AFL should have taken into account.
A quick check of the substantial shareholders in Paradigm’s Annual Reports doesn’t suggest potential conflict of interest , but Harcourt and AFL should be forced to disclose their relevant shareholdings.
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And it is a blood thinner. So they are hoping no one bleeds out while on the drug. Safe as…what?
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whatley would love the horse drugs, could make him one with black caviar.
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Only for EFC players.
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And, in accordance with the AFL anti-doping rules the AFL must give prior approval - it cannot delegate that approval. Yet the AFL has stated that no approval given.
The issue of safety is related, but distinct. If the AFL can’t follow its own rules and procedures, it is a rabble.
Under revised AFL functional responsibilities, I thought everything of this nature had to go through Andrew Dillon. Yet the way it is being presented is that it was solely a Harcourt decision.
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On the safety aspects, taking into account that it is an experimental drug which might possibly have consequences for subsequent sports injuries incurred on the field or in training, it could be argued that a specialist physician should be involved - and that it cannot be left entirely to club doctors.
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Another article from Mick Warner tonight, can someone post but PLEASE post the picture of Gill as well.
It’s a classic .
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Two AFL clubs say they were offered “free samples” of a contentious pain drug MICHAEL WARNER, Herald Sun April 9, 2018 7:45pmTWO AFL club doctors have revealed they rejected offers to use free samples of a breakthrough pain drug on injured players.
The club medicos said they were approached by Paradigm Biopharmaceuticals over the off season to use injectable pentosan polysulfate sodium.
“We looked at this in quite a bit of detail over summer because we have a player with a degenerative knee,” a senior club doctor who asked not be identified said.
“We had an approach, as I think most clubs have, from the company wanting to know if we’d be interested and they offered us free samples of the stuff and all sorts of things.
“We seriously contemplated it, but the reason we didn’t proceed was because of the risks of bleeding.
“At this point in time we’re still not comfortable that something like that won’t happen.”
Pentosan polysulfate sodium has been used for decades to treat blood clots and painful bladder syndrome in women, but only recently emerged as a treatment option for osteoarthritis.
Paradigm says players at seven AFL clubs have used the injectable form of the drug with great results, including six players suffering from severe osteitis pubis.
Use of the drug will discussed at an AFL Doctors’ Association executives’ meeting on Tuesday night.
AFLDA president Dr Andrew Potter told the Herald Sun the body did not have a specific policy on the drug.
AFL CEO Gillon McLachlan says the drug is “clearly not WADA-prohibited”. Pic: AAP“We can’t dictate to doctors how they practice medicine — that’s up to the regulating authorities, the medical boards and the AFL,” Dr Potter said.
“What we can do though is support them and make sure that we remind them of what the appropriate processes are if you are going to prescribe stuff for any treatment that they use.”
Dr Potter said doctors were required to take players through all the potential risks and benefits of different treatments.
“Medicine is not all black and white, there are some grey areas and individual doctors are going to have their own preferences,” he said.
A second club doctor told the Herald Sun he was contacted by the company and told access to the drug through the Therapeutic Goods Administration’s “special access scheme” was a simple process.
“I just wasn’t interested,” the doctor said.
“Who has proved it safe in a contact sport? If it works when you are not playing maybe it has a place, but if it’s a blood thinning agent what happens if you get a corkie or a knock to the head?”
AFL chief executive Gillon McLachlan has defended the use of pentosan polysulfate sodium by players “because it’s clearly not WADA-prohibited and … it’s been signed off by the TGA and been given exemption for use”.
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This clear hypocrisy, my hatred for the AFL and all other teams (post saga), combined with our ■■■■ gutless on field performance is really making me hate 2018 season already.
I think I’m done, and in round 3 that’s got to be a record. For a sport I grew up watching 5 games + a week for 30 years, played for 20, coached for 5, I’m almost over it. FK you all, seriously FK you all.
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