Feb. 27 (Bloomberg) -- The U.S. Anti-Doping Agency agreed to fund an ongoing study by a nanotechnology company that aims to develop the first urine test for human growth hormone.

Ceres Nanosciences LLLP has partnered with scientists from George Mason University to create and market the technology. It will be given $65,000 and research support from USADA to complete a pre-clinical study.
“From a scientific perspective, we can tell you now if someone’s been doping,” Ceres Chief Executive Officer Tom Dunlap said in a telephone interview. “The problem is it probably wouldn’t stand up in court.”
The initial study, aimed at proving that Ceres’s patented technology can detect HGH, will take four to six months, Dunlap said. A 6-12 month study to develop a broader sample size will follow, he said.
“That will make it a much stronger test from a litigation standpoint,” Dunlap said. “There’s no baseline history of how much HGH people have to start with in their urine, because nobody’s ever been able to see it, so we need to create that history first.”
HGH is considered a performance-enhancing drug because of its ability to grow muscle and aid recovery after training while not being detectable in urine, unlike anabolic steroids.
“This is a great example of the partnerships that must be forged between cutting-edge biotech companies and the anti- doping movement to ensure that the rights of clean athletes are protected,” Larry Bowers, USADA’s chief science officer, said in a joint statement announcing the agreement.
Undetectable
Major League Baseball banned HGH in 2005 and, like other professional sports leagues, doesn’t test for the substance.
Roger Clemens, a seven-time Cy Young Award-winning pitcher, took HGH and muscle-building steroids, according to former Senator George Mitchell’s report on performance-enhancing drug use in the sport. Pitcher Andy Pettitte, also named in the report, admitted taking HGH and told a congressional committee that Clemens also said he used it. Clemens has denied the claims and is facing a grand-jury investigation of his congressional testimony on the issue.

George Mason scientists Lance Liotta and Emanuel Petricoin collaborated with Italy’s Istituto Superiore di Sanita to develop the technology, which the group hopes will detect early- stage cancer.
Nanotechnology
Closely held Ceres, based on one of George Mason’s campuses in Manassas, Virginia, has yet to determine how long HGH will remain detectable with the test, Dunlap said.
A blood test for HGH, offered by the World Anti-Doping Agency, has been tried at the past three Olympics, though it has yet to return a positive result, said Don Catlin, the former head of the UCLA Olympic Analytic laboratory who now runs a for- profit research and analytical laboratory outside Los Angeles.
“Until they find a positive, it’s hard to know how much weight to place on it,” Catlin said in a telephone interview.
Catlin and Dunlap have said that their companies are also in negotiations to work together on developing an HGH urine test.

Seriously these idiots that are so against doping need to get a life and tackle the fucks doing REAL drugs like cocaine, crystal meth and hunt down them losers that are killing and stealing for a hit. This shit gets so old to see! It seems the whole world is after steroids, while the rest of the world falls apart at the hands of drugs that are killing people and causing people to kill each other.

U.S. economy is pretty fucked up too, why not put the money into making it better.

Oh never mind that is a bad idea, need to catch them steroid users, they are the ones ruining the world. How did I almost let that slip my mind? Must of been the steroids!

We just need to get more overpaid athletes to start doing more rec drugs and get better at the game, then some idiot in the gov't will think this is an unfair advantage to the game and order a commission to crack down.