Patrick Arnold

Patrick Arnold is an American organic chemist responsible for creating the designer steroid tetrahydrogestrinone, also known as THG. [http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2006/08/04/sportsline/main1867975.shtml Creator Of 'The Clear' Imprisoned] CBS News, 04 Aug 2006, retrieved July 2007] THG, along with two other anabolic steroids that Patrick Arnold manufactured (norbolethone and desoxymethyltestosterone (DMT)), were drugs at the heart of the BALCO scandal. [ [http://www.usdoj.gov/usao/can/press/2006/2006_08_04_arnold_sentencing%20press.htm Chemist Who Created "The Clear" Sentenced] , United States Department of Justice Press Release, 04 Aug 2006, retrieved July 2007] At the time of their creation, they were not on any banned substance list. BALCO distributed these worldwide to world class athletes from a wide variety of sports ranging from track and field to professional baseball and football.

Notoriety

Patrick Arnold first gained notoriety for bringing the prohormone androstenedione (more commonly known as 'andro') to the market in 1996. In 1998, Mark McGwire of the St. Louis Cardinals was found by a reporter to have a bottle of androstenedione in his locker, which led to controversy regarding the status of the supplement as an unfair performance enhancer.

Patrick received a degree in chemistry from the University of New Haven in 1990. In the early 90's he worked in the chemical industry at companies such as Uniroyal Chemical and ISP Technologies as well as attended graduate school. Patrick left the industry to join the nutritional supplement industry in 1996 when he traveled to Illinois from Connecticut to start LPJ Research with Ramlakhan Boodram of Champaign. In 2003, Boodram and Arnold changed the name of the company to Proviant Technologies. Proviant markets sports nutrition supplements under the brand name Ergopharm.

Time in prison

Arnold was sentenced to three months in prison at Morgantown Federal Correctional Institution in West Virginia for his role in the BALCO incident.

References