Article source: MESO-Rx

Howard Levine, M.D. of Northwest Lifestyle Medicine was sentenced to almost two years in prison for dealing anabolic steroids out of his Seattle medical office. According to court documents, Levine sold approximately FIFTY – 10mL vials of anabolic steroids (including nandrolone decanoate, stanozolol, testosterone enanthate, trenbolone acetate as well as oxymetholone tablets, human growth hormone, and nandrolone decanoate and testosterone gels) to two undercover agents and a paid DEA confidential source over the course of 18 months. Levine also sold several thousand dollars worth of anabolic steroids to a Las Vegas trainer for local bodybuilders on at least one occasion.

Over the course of the investigation, Dr. Levine was always alone in his medical office; there were no secretaries, nurses, or other administrative support staff present but he had a pool table a refrigerator full of beer. Levine never conducted any sort of medical assessment or history before prescribing steroids.  During the course of the investigation, Levine discussed the resale of steroids by his clients including suggested prices. He also told his clients that they were considered drug dealers under the law and suggested that they refer their customers to him to avoid the possibility of criminal prosecution; he even offered to pay them a referral fee if they chose to do that.

Search warrants executed on Levine’s MSN and AOL email accounts (seattelmd@hotmail.com and ageisonlyanumber@aol.com) revealed that he sold steroids over the internet using the alias “Alan” where customers paid by credit card; there was no physical examination or medical questionnaire or any semblance of a doctor-patient relationship.

Levine was previously disciplined for selling Viagra over the internet via his company Confirmed.com LLC and ordered to cease selling prescription drugs via email and over the internet.

Levine was sentenced to prison for trying to extort $500,000 from Jack-in-the-Box stating that he was given spoiled chicken and threatening to take his story to the New York Times.

Originally published at: Seattle Doctor Sentenced to Prison for Dealing Steroids

Article source: MESO-Rx

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:

1. It is a generic CHEAP drug
2. 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.
3. Nandrolone’s indication is for anemia and no doctor uses it for that purpose, so they prescribe it legally off label.
4. 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.

Norma Hellas nandrolone decanoate aka Deca Durabolin

Originally published at: Availability of Pharmaceutical Nandrolone Decanoate Limited in United States

Article source: MESO-Rx

The “war on steroids” in the United States has been highly effective in one regard; it has limited the availability of anabolic steroids for those individuals who use steroids as a matter of medical necessity. Nelson Vergel has written about the problems arising from the nation’s steroid hysteria as it affects the medical applications of steroids. These problems include Watson Pharmaceuticals discontinuation of nandrolone decanoate (Deca Durabolin) and the increasingly limited number of compounding pharmacies that offer nandrolone.

Since nandrolone decanoate is no longer manufacturer by any U.S. pharmaceutical company, it is difficult to find in the United States with availability limited to compounding pharmacies. Members of Vergel’s Yahoo Group PozHealth have researched and identified only five compounding pharmacies nationwide that still offer nandrolone decanoate with a valid medical prescription (and in some cases, additional requirements) ["Nandrolone Prices at Compounding Pharmacies," March 28).

Prices of a 10mL vial Nandrolone Decanoate (200 mg/ml) at Compounding Pharmacies

[NOTE: Pricing and compounding pharmacy has been removed per request. The publication of such information has regrettably caused adverse attention for at least one compounding pharmacy.]

Two other compounding pharmacies have ceased production of nandrolone decanoate due to federal pressure and/or limited availability of the raw materials (Applied Pharmacy Services and Leiter’s Pharmacy, respectively).

We desperately need a rational discussion on anabolics steroids to replace the steroid demonization and steroid hysteria sweeping our country. Legislation and federal actions involving anabolic steroids over the past several years have arguably done nothing to decrease steroid use among professional athletes or high school athletes; the war on steroids has indisputably compromised the available of anabolic steroids for medical purposes in affected populations. This is the real crime.

Deca Durabolin (Nandrolone Decanoate)

Originally published at: Buying Nandrolone Decanoate in the United States

Article source: MESO-Rx

I have previously written about how the current climate of steroid hysteria has limited the availability of anabolic steroids for medically indicated purposes. I’ve also posted lists of compounding pharmacies that, in the face of limited availability and increased federal pressure, continue to sell anabolic steroids to patients who have a genuine medical need for them.

Today MESO-Rx has learned that at least one compounding pharmacy has contacted bodybuilding, steroid, and health websites requesting the removal of all references to the company, their website and the (anabolic steroid) product(s) they sell.

I spoke with the chief marketing officer for the compounding pharmacy to find out more information. I was told that the company was concerned about receiving adverse attention from publicity of anabolic steroid sales. The company was adamantly dedicated to only serving the populations (e.g. HIV, wasting) that truly needed steroids for medical purposes. The publication of steroid information in connection with their company could possibly compromise that goal, especially on a bodybuilding and/or steroid-related website.

It seems highly unusual for the chief marketing officer to try and stifle publicity for one of their products. But it is understandable. If they publicize that they sell nandrolone decanoate (for example), then they are likely to attract adverse attention from (1) bodybuilders and athletes seeking steroids for performance enhancement or (2) federal and/or state authorities who may suspect they are selling steroids in a manner similar to what has been alleged in other publicized compounding pharmacy steroid scandal cases.

But if a steroid like Deca Durabolin (nandrolone decanoate) is so difficult to find from a legitimate (compounding) pharmacy AND the (compounding) pharmacies that do sell it do not publicize (and actually prohibit promotion of the) fact, then how will patients (e.g. HIV/AIDS) who really need it for medical reasons be able to find it? And as of this writing, this information is not readily available on Google; the steroid sources for Deca Durabolin are practically all outside the United States (thereby making it illegal for U.S. citizens to purchase even with a valid medical prescription.)

This is not good for patients who need steroids for their health and well-being.

Originally published at: Pressure on Compounding Pharmacies Selling Anabolic Steroids

Article source: MESO-Rx

Daniel McGlone was sentenced to two years in prison for advertising, marketing and promoting American Pharmaceutical Group (APG) as a source for anabolic steroids and human growth hormone in bodybuilding magazines and through the internet website PrescriptionProtocol.com. Daniel McGlone aka American Pharmaceutical Group paid $18,150 to American Media Inc. (AMI) for magazine advertisements over about an 18-month period; AMI publishes the bodybuilding magazines FLEX Magazine, Muscle & Fitness and Men’s Fitness. AMG also paid for $1,800 for advertisements in the bodybuilding magazine Planet Muscle for a couple of months.

The American Pharmaceutical Group made $860,810 over a twenty-eight month period in proceeds from anabolic steroid and HGH sales to individual customers and referral bonuses from compounding pharmacies such as Signature Pharmacy. Customers responding to ads in bodybuilding magazines and on the internet were prescribed various anabolic steroids, human growth hormone and human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG). Specific drugs included testosterone, testosterone cypionate, testosterone propionate, testosterone enanthate, stanozolol, nandrolone decanoate, and somatropin (“Steroid seller given two-year term,” January 17).

You are a drug dealer, U.S. District Judge William E. Smith said. To call it something else is just to gloss it over. [...]

Prosecutors say McGlone made more than $860,000 from steroid and HGH sales arranged from 2003 to 2006 through American Pharmaceutical Group, a business he operated from his New Brunswick, N.J., home.

Under the scheme, he would solicit prescriptions from doctors, including two sentenced in 2007 for their roles. One, Ana Maria Santi, of Queens, N.Y., had prescribed 84,000 doses of steroids and HGH to 400 customers of pharmaceutical sales companies, including McGlone’s, prosecutors said. McGlone would then forward those prescriptions to compounding pharmacies, which would deliver the drugs to customers throughout the country, including Rhode Island.

Daniel McGlone was the owner and sole employee of American Pharmaceutical Group. McGlone managed the lucrative operation from his apartment where he avoided hands-on involvement with anabolic steroids or HGH. McGlone advised customers on steroid stacks and protocols; he then paid three physicians – indicted and unindicted co-conspirators Ana Maria Santi, M.D., Victor Mariani M.D., and Claire Godfrey, M.D. - to write prescriptions for the various performance enhancing drugs and submit them to large compounding pharmacies such as Signature Pharmacy.

Dr. Santi and Dr. Mariani were indicted as co-conspirators with Daniel McGlone. Both physicians pleaded guilty and were sentenced to prison in 2007 (“Physician, former physician are sentenced for fraudulently prescribing steroids & human growth hormone,” November 2, 2007).

At the plea hearings, Assistant U.S. Attorney Adi Goldstein said the government could prove that Santi and Mariani engaged in a conspiracy with Daniel McGlone, who operated American Pharmaceutical Group (APG) out of his home in North New Brunswick, New Jersey.  At McGlone’s request, Santi and Mariani fraudulently wrote prescriptions for steroids and hGH.  McGlone then had the prescriptions filled at compounding pharmacies and shipped to the end users, who had ordered the drugs from McGlone over the Internet or through ads in body-building magazines (“Physician, former physician are sentenced for fraudulently prescribing steroids & human growth hormone,” November 2, 2007).

Neither Santi, whose license to practice medicine had been revoked in New York in 1999, nor Mariani, who was a licensed physician during the conspiracy, ever examined or even spoke to the end users for whom they wrote prescriptions.

Santi, operating in Queens, New York, wrote the prescriptions in the name of another doctor, who at the time was retired and living in a nursing home in California, and who has since died.  Santi admitted writing an average of 100 prescriptions a month for APG.  She admitted writing prescriptions for nearly 400 APG customers, and also admitted writing prescriptions for steroids and hGH for three other companies.  McGlone paid her $25 per prescription.

Mariani maintained a practice in Queens and Manhattan.  He admitted writing an average of 100 prescriptions a month at McGlone’s request, and wrote prescriptions for 274 of APG’s customers.  He also wrote prescriptions for at least one other company.

Claire Godfrey, M.D.,  FOX New medical correspondent and former Mrs. Florida beauty pageant contestant, was not indicted in the American Pharmaceutical Group conspiracy. But Dr. Godfrey pleaded guilty to charges in the Albany County District Attorney David Soares’ Operation Which Doctor steroid investigation involving Signature Pharmacy. Godfrey was also identified as the physician who prescribed anabolic steroids to IFBB pro bodybuilder Victor Martinez  (“Fox News doc cops ‘roid plea,” July 25, 2007).

Godfrey wrote illegal prescriptions worth more than $1.3 million for steroids and other performance-enhancing drugs last year for scores of patients – including two active wrestlers and bodybuilder Victor Martinez – without examining them, New York State Department of Health investigator Mark Haskins told the Daily News.

The Albany County District Attorney’s Office considered Claire Godfrey a star witness should the case against Signature Pharmacy go to trial. Dr. Godfrey was on the advisory board of the Institute of Nutritional Medicine and Cardiovascular Research, along with Naomi Loomis, which was located at the Signature Pharmacy headquarters. Godfrey started her own longevity clinic called Ageless (“Longwood doctor key to steroid case,” July 25, 2007).

“She is the most important one of the doctors in this case,” said Assistant District Attorney Christopher Baynes. “She’s familiar with [Signature's] principals and the inner workings of the pharmacy.” [...]

She told prosecutors that Signatures referred online clinics — which needed doctors to sign prescriptions — to her. Godfrey said Calvert and Stan Loomis helped her set up a pay structure, including charging $50 a script. She learned later that Signature charged clinics about $10,000 to connect them to a doctor, Baynes said.

Since 2006, Godfrey wrote prescriptions for at least five clinics, including ones in Texas and New Jersey, the prosecutor said.

A.J. Peterson told Albany County investigators that Oasis Rejuvenation paid Signature Pharmacy $10,000 for access to Claire Godfrey who would write prescriptions for anabolic steroids and human growth hormone (“Signature Pharmacy pimping in female doctors,” March 30, 2007).

“Peterson blows the lid off the fact that Signature not only knew what the doctors were doing, but actually were providing doctors for these clinics,” Baynes said outside court. In exchange for a deal that will keep him out of prison, Peterson has agreed to cooperate with investigators. He had faced a maximum potential penalty of 1 /3 to 4 years in prison for his guilty plea to a felony count of criminal diversion of a prescription medication. [...]

The Times Union learned this week that an employee of another wellness center in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., also told investigators he’d paid an official at Signature Pharmacy $10,000 in cash for access to a doctor willing to approve pre-written prescriptions for steroids. The employee has not been charged with a crime and is cooperating with authorities, his attorney told the newspaper.

Claire Godfrey also wrote prescriptions for Cellular Nucleonic Advantage clinic in Texas.

Originally published at: Man Goes to Prison for Advertising Anabolic Steroids in Bodybuilding Magazines

Article source: MESO-Rx

Q: Will most primary care Doctors prescribe Deca Durabolin to patients who need it? I am in good health with a totally supressed viral load but would like to put on some lean muscle mass. I do work out with weights but it is very difficult to add muscle. Can this steroid be taken safely? If my PCP provider will not prescribe it where can I obtain it. I live in Dallas.

A: This is the most detailed answer I have ever given at thebody.com on nandrolone since it seems that I am seeing more and more questions on this medication.

No, only the most progressive doctors prescribe nandrolone decanoate (old brand name: Deca Durabolin). All doctors are told in medical school that anabolic steroids are bad for people, much like what they hear about street drugs like cocaine or meth. This is unfortunate since nandrolone is the most studied compound in HIV related wasting. Like every drug, it needs to be prescribed by a physician that knows how to monitor the main variables in blood analysis. So, doctors who now prescribe it are those who learned on their own about its use through internet sources, my book Built to Survive (available on amazon.com), or reading all papers published on this compound in HIV. Nandrolone studies in HIV

Wasting syndrome was one of the main killers of people with HIV before protease inhibitors and non nukes were introduced in 1996-1997. But now most people with HIV that get on HIV medications do not waste away to death (assuming their virus in controlled). However, a study performed by researchers at Tufts Medical School reported that around 25% of people with undetectable viral load are still under weight or losing weight involuntarily.

Nandrolone decanoate is actually a molecule very similar to testosterone but with a few changes that make it more anabolic with fewer side effects. A study performed in Australia found it more effective in treating wasting that testosterone, even at lower doses than testosterone: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1468-1293.2006.00358.x/full

It is important to note that nandrolone decanoate is not an illegal drug. The FDA approved it as an “indication for the management of the anemia of renal
insufficiency and has been shown to increase hemoglobin and red cell mass.” In Australia, it is approved for osteoporosis “where other therapy is inappropriate OR patients on long term treatment with corticosteroids.” It is also listed as an Orphan Drug in Australia for this HIV indication: “for patients who have proven HIV infection who have lost at least 5% of their usual body weight.” So, physicians in the United States can prescribe it legally for building lean body mass and stregth in HIV as an off label use. Some physicians also prescribe it for those who have lost a lot of mass in their arms and legs and want to reshape their bodies after lipodystrophy.

Nandrolone is a cheap generic in the United States and no company was smart enough to gather all study data already available to present it to the FDA to get it approved here for an orphan drug indication similar to the one in Australia. It is available via compounding pharmacies with a prescription. Some doctors stopped prescribing it a few years ago when the main manufacturer, Watson Pharmaceuticals, stopped selling it without notice (here is a blog I wrote back then: Watson stops nandrolone ).

Many of these physicians still do not know it is still available via compounders like APSmeds.com, thecompoundingshop.com and many more compounding pharmacies around the country. To read more about what compounding medications are, I recommend this link: What are compounded medications?

The only drug approved in the United States for wasting syndrome is Serostim (growth hormone). At $6000 per month, it is over 100 times more expensive than nandrolone ($40 a month for 200 mg per week). A study showed that nandrolone is as effective as Serostim in increasing nitrogen retention in HIV (nitrogen retention is needed for increasing lean body mass). Nandrolone equals Serostim

Unlike the most commonly prescribed anabolic agent in HIV , Oxandrin or oxandrolone (generic name), nandrolone does not affect liver function. However, doctors like to prescribe Oxandrin more than nandrolone since Oxandrin is an oral agent. Oxandrin costs $1300 a month for the recommended dose of 20 mg per day.

Nandrolone, Oxandrin can shut down your body’s own testosterone production since the hormone feed back loop does not see the difference between it and testosterone. But there is a difference: only testosterone can preserve sexual function. So, it is important to use nandrolone along with testosterone replacement (gels or injections).

Nandrolone and testosterone can affect your hormonal axis (hypothalamic-pituitary-testicular axis , or HPTA). So, when people cycle these medications and get off, the HPTA may remain sluggish for a few weeks, making people lose lean body mass and present all symptoms of testosterone deficiency. There are ways to cycle nandrolone safely, though (for details, read Built to Survive and Dr Scally HPTA information

Doctors need to monitor blood pressure and hematocrit along with other parameters. Hematocrit is particularly important since testosterone )and anabolics increase red blood cell volume which can make blood more viscous which increases cardiovascular risks. More on this in Built to Survive.

I would love to see studies using nandrolone to reverse or prevent HIV aging related frailty, bone loss, and sarcopenia (age related loss of lean body mass).

My non profit, Program for Wellness Restoration, put together a doctor’s list years ago (not updated, so some doctors may no longer be in practice) here: Doctor’s List

I hope this long answer provided with enough information about nandrolone prescribing issues.

For more information, please visit powerusa.org or medibolics.com

Nelson

Deca Durabolin (Nandrolone Decanoate)

Originally published at: Will Most Doctors Prescribe Deca Durabolin to HIV Patients?