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High-profile cases of growth hormone misuse by leading international sports stars have made the development of an effective detection test a main priority of global anti-doping organisations. A research team headed by the University of Southampton developed a new test, adopted at the 2012 Olympic Games, which identified two drugs cheats at the London Paralympic Games just weeks after it was first introduced. The subsequent bans serve to act as a powerful deterrent to other athletes and help restore public confidence in fair competition. The World Anti-Doping Agency has announced its commitment to rolling out the test internationally.
Statistical research at Kent has made an essential contribution to the development of an effective test to detect growth hormone (GH) abuse in sport. GH is naturally present in the human body, but its exogenous use has been banned in sport for many years. However, it is believed to be widely misused across a broad spectrum of sports and the research attracted a wide range of support from national anti-doping authorities in the UK (UKAD) and USA (USADA), from the EU, via the Biomed 2 Programme, from the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA), and from industry. The development of a reliable anti-doping test (the "biomarker" test), based on the biological and statistical research, is a breakthrough that benefits the public, by helping to ensure fairness in sporting events. There are also potential health benefits to sportspeople who are discouraged from using exogenous GH, which can have serious side effects. The new test was finalised and approved by WADA in July 2012. The test was used for the first time just prior to the 2012 London Games and led to two Paralympic competitors being convicted of GH doping.
Research on Congenital Adrenal Hyperplasia (CAH) at the University of Sheffield has resulted in both health and commercial impacts. The research has led to a new drug treatment, Chronocort®, being developed for CAH. Chronocort® has been tested in CAH patients with the positive outcome of improved disease control.
Commercial impact arose from the creation of a spin-out company, Diurnal Ltd, in 2004 which has raised investment of £3.8M since 2008, including £0.4M from pharmaceutical industry sources, and (as an SME partner) a €5.6M Framework 7 grant to develop a paediatric treatment for CAH. Diurnal has created five new jobs and has contracts with six UK companies worth £2.7M.
Impact: Health and welfare; public health studies in Sri Lanka and clinical trials in a cohort of 35,000 pesticide self-poisoning patients have led to the withdrawal of high-dose pralidoxime as a WHO-recommended treatment and bans of three toxic pesticides in Sri Lanka.
Significance: Resultant changes in clinical practice and pesticide regulation have saved 3000 lives in the last four years in Sri Lanka alone; in the rest of Asia many times this as local guidelines and practice have changed.
Beneficiaries: Patients and communities, healthcare providers, policy-makers.
Attribution: Studies designed and led, with international collaborators, by Michael Eddleston, UoE.
Reach: International, particularly Asia, changes in WHO and international guidelines on pesticide use.