Chelsea doctor defends request to use banned drug on athletes

Published on Sunday 27 March 2005 02:39

CHELSEA’S new team doctor last night denied that he had done wrong by seeking clearance to use a banned drug on some of Britain’s Olympic athletics hopefuls at his previous job.

Bryan English, who arrived at Stamford Bridge last month, previously worked for UK Athletics, track’s national governing body. While at UKA, he treated the British Olympic team, including double gold medallist Kelly Holmes.

Correspondence has come to light in which English requested information about using a blood-boosting substance that is on sport’s banned drugs list.

In the letters, written in the build-up to last year’s Athens Olympics, English indicated that he wanted to use actovegin, a drug usually prescribed to elderly patients with diabetes or in recovery after a stroke.

"I have to treat these athletes," English wrote, "and I need all the treatment options possible."

Seeking information from Britain’s anti-doping authorities on whether actovegin is banned under sports rules, he could not disguise his irritation when advised that it is.

"Could I request that you do not continue to err on the side of caution about actovegin, which is sending incorrect messages to UKA," he wrote. "Just do not comment rather than doing what you view as the safe option by saying it is banned."

In a separate letter, English wrote: "When it comes to legal responsibility, no-one carries greater risk that the prescribing doctor."

Actovegin has been on the International Olympic Committee’s list of banned performance-enhancing substances - which covers all Olympic sports, including athletics and football - since 2000, after an investigation at the Tour de France found cyclists had been using the substance to boost their stamina.

Actovegin, manufactured using an extract of calf’s blood, improves the circulation of oxygen in the blood in a manner similar to another banned drug, EPO, or erythropoietin. A spokesman for the manufacturers said yesterday that actovegin "has no direct sports use".

There is no evidence that any of Britain’s Olympic athletes have used actovegin. UK Athletics said: "Our doctors work to the highest standards within the rules of the sport."

Yesterday, English maintained that he had done no wrong, saying that actovegin was an "allowable substance" out of competition, but that "it cannot be given intravenously during competition".

This contradicts the World Anti-Doping Agency’s code, which, under section M1 on "prohibited methods", explicitly bans anything that might "artificially enhance the uptake, transport or delivery of oxygen", whether in or out of competition.

Patrick Schamasch, the Olympic medical director, said of actovegin: "It’s advertised as enhancing the flow of oxygen to the brain. And if it brings oxygen to the brain, it can also bring oxygen to the other parts of the body."

A spokesman for Chelsea said: "We have a zero tolerance policy on all drugs."