LSU chancellor reflects on the afterlife of a medical drug he helped develop

A recent New York Times feature on the banned sports drug ostarine traces its origins to early biomedical research aimed at treating serious medical conditions—a story that intersects with LSU Chancellor James Dalton’s earlier career as a pharmaceutical scientist. 

Decades ago, Dalton helped develop selective androgen receptor modulators, or SARMs, in pursuit of therapies for muscle wasting, osteoporosis and age-related frailty.

The drug never received FDA approval, but once the research was published, ostarine was widely replicated and distributed through unregulated channels, eventually spreading across elite and amateur sports. 

The Times feature explores how the drug’s chemical properties have complicated anti-doping enforcement, with cases involving contamination, inadvertent exposure and debate over zero-tolerance testing rules.

Dalton is no longer actively involved in ostarine’s development and now works to combat its use by athletes. He has advised the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency on ostarine cases and is chair of a scientific advisory board for a group that reviews and funds grants for anti-doping research.

“I spend more time now trying to stop people from using it than trying to get people to use it,” Dalton says. “That wasn’t what I ever set out to do with this.”

He’s not part of the anti-doping apparatus that will operate during the Olympics this month in Italy but he’ll be watching the games from home. His favorite sport at the Winter Games?

“Well, I’ve always loved bobsled,” he says.

The New York Times has the full story.