The What If Game

[MIKE CAMPBELL]

I know "what ifs" can drive you crazy but there is an interesting one that comes to mind since there is so much discussion about drug use. Back in the early 90's when EPO exploded on the scene not only in horse racing but in human athletic competition, several organizations such as the Olympic Committee approached AMGEN who owned the patent and was manufacturing EPO. Since there wasn't a test at the time to detect EPO, AMGEN was asked if they would install a biological marker in their bottles of EPO so that these organizations could detect who was using EPO. As usual, it all came down to money, as AMGEN's Board of Directors unanimously declined the request, stating that off label usage for human and equine athletes was nearly triple than what legitimate usage of the drug was and they couldn't afford to lose the business. I can only imagine what would have transpired had AMGEN agreed to help by installing that marker in the EPO. Chances are pretty good that many trainers, horses and athletes from that era would be absent from history books. Lance Armstrong comes to mind.

[Brkn Headpole]

I had a friend whose father invented and patented pharmaceuticals. He told me long before the Lance Armstrong scandal came to light that Lance was on an EPO concoction. One of his friends was a very wealthy businessman who had an aggressive form of cancer and travelled twice a month to the same clinic in Houston I think it was and he was the one who saw Lance there to take his magic elixir.

[MIKE CAMPBELL]

I had a friend whose father invented and patented pharmaceuticals. He told me long before the Lance Armstrong scandal came to light that Lance was on an EPO concoction. One of his friends was a very wealthy businessman who had an aggressive form of cancer and travelled twice a month to the same clinic in Houston I think it was and he was the one who saw Lance there to take his magic elixir.

He lived on the shit when he was winning all those bike races in France.