ERGOPHARM’S ANDRO-SPRAY VERSUS "THE OTHER BRAND" 
by Pat Arnold

Since this is a hardcore site, I am sure the readers are familiar with prohormone topical sprays.  Certainly, you should be familiar with some of the unrestrained promotional material concerning “The other brand” that has unfortunately turned off a lot of hardcore people from all prohormone sprays, including mine.  This is understandable, because if I were a supplement consumer (actually I am), my knee jerk reaction would be “Oh no, déjà vu, here’s another HMB”.

All I ask is please, do not let me be guilty by association.  I did a lot of research before I came up with the formula for my Andro-spray, and no, it was NOT simply a copy of the “The other brand”.  Yes it was, in a way, a copy, but not of that formula (you will see later).  After all, what is product development these days except the finding of new applications for established science and technology?  Does Ford reinvent the wheel every time they come out with a new truck model?  Did I invent the actual molecules 4-androstenediol and 19-nor-4-androstenediol?  Of course not.

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SERIOUSLY, DOES THIS STUFF REALLY DO A GODDAM THING PATRICK?

OK.  The science of transdermal delivery for steroids is very well established.  The top selling (most prescribed) testosterone formulas are, after all, transdermal formulations.  It only makes sense that this technology can be made to work for prohormones as well.  Now, I will admit that no formal clinical studies have been done on my formula, or any other topical prohormone formula for that matter.  Why should my company spend the money on the study when the act of getting it published would only serve to have it removed from the marketplace?  I know I need not explain that one to you guys.

What I will say (and its up to you to take my word for it) is that my prohormone spray is heads and tails above all other prohormone concoctions I have conjured up (capsules, cyclos, buccals, etc).  Not just that, but heads and tails above any other supplement in so far as muscle mass and strength increases are concerned.  What about creatine you say?  I will be honest with you, I never got jack shit from creatine and never observed anyone undergo visible growth with creatine either.  Maybe you have.  I dunno.

I have seen people change their physical appearance on Andro-spray however.  Now keep in mind that these were anabolic steroid virgins.  I certainly would not expect to see such results from veteran, “desensitized”, anabolic users.  However, where I live (Podunk, Illinois) there are not many steroids (real or fake) going around so there are lots of fresh guinea pigs around.  Because of this, the product has created a word of mouth sensation, and practically every time I go to the gym I have someone ask my girlfriend (they know better than to approach me when I am near the weights) for another bottle.

WHAT’S SO DIFFERENT ABOUT YOUR SPRAY, PA?

OK.  I hyped the stuff enough already.  The original intent of this article was to explain why my formula is better than “The other brand”, and perhaps to get any “The other brand” users here to switch to my formula.  Nothing wrong with that right?  Simple aggressive marketing (hell, Pepsi does it to Coca-Cola). 

Don’t get me wrong now, “The other brand” is a decent product as far as topicals go.  It's better than the gels on the market and has a pretty little label on it.  The name is kind of nifty too.  However, when it comes to the sophistication of the formulation, it…well….sucks.  Compared to mine at least.

The alcohol

First of all, let's talk about the alcohol that the prohormone is delivered in.  No, lets talk about the alcohol that is used in 99.9% of all cosmetic and topical drugs.  Its CH3CH2OH, better known as ethanol or ethyl alcohol.  The same stuff that gets you drunk.  Unfortunately it is this “shitfacing” effect that has made it difficult to obtain bulk amounts of ethanol.  You need to obtain a special license from the ATF to purchase alcohol, even denatured alcohol, in the large amounts that are necessary to make commercial products such as these.

My company has an ATF license for the purchase of ethanol, so we used it in our formula.  What do you do if you do not have a license, or cannot get a license?  You use another alcohol like isopropanol – such as is used in “The other brand”.  Believe me, there is no other reason why anyone would want to use a nasty smelling, painfully slow evaporating alcohol like isopropanol in a formula, other than the fact that one could not obtain ethanol.  When you spray on Andro-Spray you get a mild ethanol smell (like vodka) that dissipates quite fast, since ethanol is low boiling and dries off the skin swiftly.  You do not stand there for 15 minutes blowing on yourself, ready to pass out from the fumes, hoping that some jokester doesn’t throw a match on you.  No, you are ready to dress and go without wasting much time at all, and you will get to work on time.

The Sprayer

While on the subject of getting to work on time, I have to wonder how many people have punched in late because they had to stand around spraying a bottle seventy times.  Who (I wonder), came to the wacky conclusion that consumers would have no problem with seventy sprays twice a day?  Not me, certainly.  I too was faced with the choice between the perfume finger sprayer, and a bigger sprayer with a wider, more voluminous mist.  I chose the latter.  As a result, the user gets the same quantity of spray on their skin with only 1/7^th the amount of sprays.  I think I made the right choice here.

Pharmaceutical Penetration Enhancer

The most significant thing that differentiates Andro-Spray from “The other brand” is the inclusion of a penetration enhancer. The utilization of penetration enhancers is common in pharmaceutical transdermal formulations.  These agents work by altering the permeability of the stratum corneum layer, thereby allowing substances to pass through the skin at a faster rate.  The quicker absorption rate allows more drug to be absorbed in a given period of time.  Since your prohormone spray is not left on the skin for days on end, this speeding up of penetration is critical to the efficacy of the product.  Keep in mind that absorption of steroids through the skin is normally very, very slow - with only 10 to 20% passing through in 24 hours (that’s supported by science folks:  J. Invest. Dermatology, 52(1): 89-94).  Sure, without a penetration enhancer to speed things up, maybe you will absorb most or all of the prohormone you spray on.  That is, if you forgo bathing for a week or so. 

You probably have heard of Andro-Gel® by Unimed Pharmaceuticals.  It’s the hottest testosterone replacement product prescribed by doctors today. This product is a hydroalcoholic gel that contains testosterone as the active ingredient.  In other words, it contains ethanol (you remember ethanol) and water made into a gel so you can rub it on.  Andro-Gel® contains another ingredient too.  It contains isopropyl myristate (IPM), a penetration enhancer.

Andro spray also contains IPM.  In fact, Andro Spray is, for all intents and purposes, a spray-on version of Andro-Gel that contains 4-AD instead of testosterone. 

One more thing:  The bullshit about “The other brand” using some superior high purity variety of 4-androstenediol is nothing but a marketing ploy.  Both of our manufacturing processes pre-filter the prohormone solution to make it clear, and that is all that is going on here.  I probably need not have to point this out to you guys though, because being hardcore I am sure you are used to spotting bullshit like this.

That’s about it.  If you are interested in prohormone sprays then you should know which one to buy.  Make the right choice and you will be supporting a company that puts money into actual bona-fide scientific research. One that actually walks the walk.  One that treats the consumer with intellectual respect.