According to researchers from the German Sport University Cologne in Germany, non-steroidal and tissue-selective anabolic agents like Selective Androgen Receptor Modulators (SARMs) are being openly sold on the black market due to their performance enhancing properties.

The finding was revealed after detection of the drug candidate Andarine in a product sold via the Internet, which one again highlighted the fact that availability of authentic SARMs draws people to them.

From Sciencedaily.com:

In 2008, the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) prohibited the use of SARMs in sports due to their potential for misuse. WADA closely cooperates with pharmaceutical and biotechnological companies, as well as medicine agencies and drug evaluation bodies on the issue of therapeutics being misused in sports. WADA’s preventive approach was validated with the recent finding of a commercially available, non-approved arylpropionamide-derived SARM termed Andarine. This product, declared as green tea extracts and face moisturizer to pass customs, was available on the Internet at a discount price of $100 USD.

To prove that SARMs lacking clinical approval are distributed and potentially misused in sports, Mario Thevis, Ph.D., and colleagues, analyzed the advertised substance using state-of-the-art mass spectrometric approaches with high resolution/high accuracy (tandem) mass spectrometry. “One unit (30 mL) was purchased online and delivered in a box labeled to contain face moisturizer and green tea extract. The sealed bottle did not declare any content and no further documents accompanied package,” said Dr. Thevis.

Mario Thevis, Ph.D., and colleagues, said that SARMs coming with significant anabolic properties are nowadays easily available without sufficient research on their undesirable effects.

This matter was recently addressed at the Conference of Parties to the International Convention against Doping in Sport, held October 26-28, 2009 at the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization’s (UNESCO) headquarters in Paris.