Sledgehammer bust and history

Among others Sledgehammer was a branch of International Pharmaceutical. Belonging to the same owners they where busted after more then 20 years.

You’ll find the article here: //www.juicedmuscle.net/bust-international-pharmaceuticals-ip

Sledgehammer alka Pharmtech was remarkably innovative, they developed different kinds of administration methods. They also had a brilliant marketing strategy that allowed them to sent steroids to “difficult” countries such as Australia – the USA etc. They’d sent their products as a piece of paper (blades) – powder –  nutritional supplements – gum – prohormones – you name it.

But once they where busted and I knew the truth about their production facility I couldn’t help laughing—laughing loud.

 The anlyses of the effervescent tablets

Before the company Sledgehammer made 'supplements' in the form of stamps  - the so called  "Blade' line -  they made the pills, effervescent tablets and powders. All these products contained anabolic steroids or other banned doping substances. It is an old idea, in the sixties the Hippies sent their L.S.D. to customers in paper, the so called “papertrips”. Most webshops sell paper roids especially from Thailand, where British expats developed it.

Now, a further study has emphasised the problem with inadequate labelling by finding undeclared prohormones in two supplements acquired in Germany. The work was carried out by the renowned anti-doping researcher Wilhelm Schanzer and colleagues at the German Sports University in Cologne and the Institute of Public Health North Rhine-Westphalia in Muenster. They purchased the supplements by telephone from a hotline number in the year 2003.

Both were described as prohormones. Their listed ingredients indicated steroids, although the names were chemically deficient. The first, called Parabolon-S, was stated to contain 17-hydroxy-17beta-1,4-dien-3-one, Nor19dion and 4-Adiol. The second, called Stanozolon-S, was said to contain 40androstenediol, 1-A-diol, 19-Nor-4-a-dion and 5alpha-androsteno[3,2-c]pyrazol-17beta.

Schanzer and his team undertook a GC/MS study to determine which steroid components were present in reality. The powdered tablets were converted to trimethylsilyl or N-tert-butyldimethylsilyl-O-trimethylsilyl derivatives to render them amenable to gas chromatography and the steroids were identified from their retention times and their mass spectral fragmentation patterns.

Both tablets were found to contain undeclared prescriptive anabolic steroids as well as prohormones. Parabolon-S contained metandienone and the prohormone norandrostenedione. Stanozolon-S contained the anabolic steroids stanozolol, testosterone, boldenone and 5alpha-dihydrotestosterone as well as estrogen and the prohormones norandrostenedione, testosterone and others. All of the steroids found are classified as schedule III substances in the US.

The contents of the anabolic steroids, determined by HPLC with diode array detection, were remarkably high. There was 16.8 mg/tablet of metandienone and 14.5 mg/tablet of stanozolol, plus lesser amounts of the other steroids and prohormones.

The researchers calculated that, following the recommended daily dosages, 9 mg of metandienone (Parabolon-S) and 8 mg of stanozolol (Stanozolon-S) plus 5 mg of norandrostenedione (both tablets) would be ingested daily. These concentrations fall within the recommended therapeutic dosages of 2.5-10 mg/day for these drugs.

Wilhelm Schanzer and Hans Geyer from the German Sports University in Cologne and the Institute of Public Health, followed the quality and quantity of Pharm-Tec cq Sledgehammer for many years.  In 2002 they discoverd  Dianabol (methandiënone) in Met-AD-17-Diol, Parabolon and Stanozolon II, three products from Sledgehammer.

On January 27, 2007 Geyer was a guest in Ireland. He spoke at the conference that was organized by the Peak Performance Nutrition & Sports Nutrition Interest Group Irish. There he presented further analysis of 'supplements' in the line of PharmTec Sledgehammer. These product where mostly sold through advertisements in magazines and web sites.

Geyer researchers tested amoung others, Oxa-17-Dion. One capsule of that product, contains according to the manufacturer 25 milligrams of 5 alpha-androstan-2-oxa-17alpha-methyl-17 beta-ol-3-one. That sounds exactly like the chemical formula of oxandrolone. And that's also what Geyer found in the capsules. The dosage was according label claim.
 
 Another product in the same line Testexx. That is still in European supplements online stores. Active ingredient in Testexx, according to the manufacturer, is 1,4-Andro-4-chloro-Stadien 17alpha-methyl-17beta-ol-3-One. That sounds like 4-chloro-dianabol or Oral-Turinabol. One capsule contains 15 milligrams, said the label and Geyers lab.
 
Yet another product from the PharmTec Primo line is 17-acetoxy. You probably already feel it comming …. The active substance in Primo 17-acetoxy, according to the label 17 beta-acetoxy-1-methyl-5-alpha-androst-1-en-3-one. Thats primobolan. One capsule contains fifty milligrams, according to the label and Geyer.
 
And then there is Tamoxen.  A capsule contains 15 milligram Tamoxencitrate aka Nolvadex, says the manufacturer. Geyer didn’t culculated the dose but did identify the product

The strange thing with these four "supplements" is that the makers, this time made it no secret to what ingredients these products contained. But they used the scientific names, and  almost nobody understands these  names. Still many bodybuilders did and wrote about it on the discussionboards. Thats why many bodybuilders did buy those products, to use it as a "legitamate" substitute for "real AAS.

The same situation was seen with Pro-hormones.

Meanwhile, the PharmTec line  doesn’t exists anymore. Sledgehammer replaced it by the D-Blade Line.

The new line of supplements of Sledgehammer also containes anabolic steroids in active doses. As became clear after analyses by Hans Geyer from a German WADA laboratory.

The latest line of PharmTec - aka Sledge Hammer - includes supplements in the form of stamps. The papers are rectangles, which you should melt in your mouth. The stamps are attached together in sheets in A4 format, and packed in an envelope.
Like the previous products of Sledgehammer you can order these stamps - they are called "Blades" – in supplements stores on the web. Moreover, the company openly advertised on full-page advertisements in fitness magazines. They wherre quite popular among gym goers.
In his advertising Sledgehammer lied about the ingredients of its products. Just look at this ad for D-Blade-Blade of Dianabol underneath, the flagship of PharmTec's new line. The piece is jubilant about Dianabol, an anabolic steroid from the sixties.

D-BLADE (D-BLADE) is just like Dianabol, in every way, but lacking the c17-alpha alkylation. But doesn’t this make it unable to survive being orally ingested? Well, yes, and no. If D-blade were taken in pill form, and swallowed, it would be rapidly destroyed by the liver. That’s why scientists at Ziegler Labs have created D-BLADE to be administered in such a way as to avoid the liver entirely.

Dianabol is good stuff, the add says. The -methyl group on position C17,  allows you to take it orally, but it also makes Dianabol to a liver toxic product. Fortunately, the guys from Sledgehammer have found a new way.

Allow us to introduce to you: the new generation of Dianabol. D-BLADE. D-BLADE is in every way identical with Dianabol, only lacking the c17-alpha alkylation Does this mean but that it does not survive oral ingestion, the answer is - yes and no ".

In D-Blade, says the manufacturer, is a kind of Dianabol without the dangerous methyl group. To allow the “first pass” through the liver, you need to melt the stamps underneath your tongue.

Pharm-Tec Anabolic calls his liver friendly component D M-17 Blade Diana Hybrid Compound.
The lab test run by an accredited laboratory shows that D-Blade contains simple dianabol. The complete compound, including risky methyl group.
 
Dianabol is the same substance in another Blade Supplement: Parabolon B-or P-Blade.  According SledgeHammer, P-Blade contains 17Tren Blade P-B-1, 4dien Beta-3-one compound, but the lab of Hans Geyer found dianabol in  the blades. Geyer said a blade contains about ten milligrams methandiénone/methandrostenolone.

Geyer also tested a third product line from Blade S-Blade, or B-Stanozolon Stanozolon-Blade. The active substance in those stamps or baldes, is according to the manufacturer, S-Blade 5-Alpha-pyrazole compound.
 
Sledgehammer describes in his ads the substance as an "acting thermogenically thyrogenic Iodo-pyrazole-Grid, a maximum mitochondrial metabolic enhancer".
An S-Blade, contains ten milligrams of stanozolol, Geyer said.

What made the company ParmTec aka SledgeHammer aka Senesco Pharma aka MuscleInc design these text.

I.m.o. they experimented with Cyclodextrins that work like they discribed in their advertisements. I also made some compounds with cyclodextrins, but the results where disapointing compared to the tabletform.

The best tool available to make nasal and sublingual steroids are derivatives of beta cyclodextrins. (Note: Plain beta-cyclodextrin is of little use) In case you have not heard of these, cyclodextrins are cyclic oligosaccarides (sugars) that have a hydrophilic outer surface and a hydrophobic inner surface. They can be thought of as a doughnut, with the center capable of having a steroid molecule stuck inside it. The hydrophilic outer surface makes the cyclodextrin soluble in water, and when it is combined with a steroid, it can make the poorly water soluble steroid soluble as well. In addition to making steroids soluble, cyclodextrins have very other important properties that make them ideal for our purpose. Cyclodextrins are known to enhance steroid delivery through biological membranes. The large CDs themselves are very bad at permeating biological membranes, but they deliver the steroid to the membrane, where it partitions into the membrane, leaving the CD on the outside of the membrane. The conventional penetration enhancers like alcohols or polyethylene glycol act by disrupting the lipid layers of membranes. That is a big source of irritation from the old formula, and this irritation can thus be avoided by the use of CD’s. Another advantage is, once administered, the steroid is rapidly absorbed. Nearly 95% of the steroid will be absorbed within 20 minutes. The reason why steroids,  need these delivery systems is because, when taken orally, a very high percentage of the steroid is deactivated by the liver, via first pass metabolism.

On Januari 27st 2010 the newpaper reported:

Lower Austrian baker conducted trade with "doping-hosts"

That was new, even for experienced investigators: a baker from the Lower Austrian Waldviertel produced between bread and rolls on its own machine (Picture) so-called "doping wafers”.

The wafers coated with anabolic steroids were sent by mail to bodybuilders in America. 

With millions of profit!

The cost of the so-called Blades were only 1.50 euro per piece. The blades where then sold for at least 60 €..... 4000 percent profit.

.The mostly muscle-bound customers were given the "hot goods" sent  by post. Before the training, the bodybuilders had to dissolve,  the with the prohibited substance coated wafers, underneath the tongue.  After more than four years the country's Criminal Investigation Department officer, ended the flourishing criminal business.Boss der Doping-Auftraggeber des auf freiem Fuß angezeigten Bäckers (66) aus Niederösterreich und Boss der Doping-TheTheThe baker (66) from Lower Austria was released and the boss a 47 year-old manBande soll ein bereits Ende vergangenen Jahres – wir berichteten – festgenommener 47-,  was already arrested - as reported -at the end of last year. Der offiziell arbeitslose Familienvater fuhr einen Porsche und kaufte sich durch den Millionengewinn aus dem weltweiten Internethandel – auch mit anderen Hormonen sowie gefälschten Viagra- The officially unemployed father drove a Porsche and bought with the millions gained with the global Internet commerce - and with other hormones as well as counterfeit Viagra Pillen – mehrere Immobilien im In- und Ausland. Pills - several pieces real estate in Austria and abroad.