February 23, 2001
Issue # 35

THE FUTURE OF PROHORMONES IS 1-AD
by Pat Arnold

In Pursuit of the Holy Grail 

You are about to be introduced to the future of prohormones.  It is called 1-AD, and it is without a doubt the single most amazing prohormone to be synthesized and sold as a nutritional supplement. 

Let me start by setting something straight.  We are not amateurs to the prohormone industry.  On the contrary, we actually started the whole prohormone industry. But not only that, we are also responsible for practically every significant innovation in prohormone technology to date.  The leader of Ergopharm, organic chemist Patrick Arnold, was the person who discovered androstenedione and introduced it to the market in 1996.  Patrick also discovered and patented androdiol® (4-androstenediol) and norandrodiol™ (19-nor-4-androstenediol), and introduced cyclodextrin technology to the prohormone industry.

For the past 18 months Patrick has feverishly been working - almost exclusively - on one project.  While scores of less knowledgeable people in the industry periodically made occasional lame, foul ball attempts at finding the “latest, greatest” prohormone, Patrick kept quiet and worked on the development of what essentially could be called the “holy grail” of prohormones.

Patrick wanted this prohormone to have all the attributes most critical to the perfect prohormone.  It was to be:

•  Orally Active

•  Completely Non-Aromatizable to Estrogens

•  Extremely potent

•  Naturally occurring

•  Non-toxic

After months of scouring every book and journal he could locate, including those in foreign languages (i.e. German), Patrick discovered a compound that seemed to be the perfect candidate.  That was the easy part.  It then took Patrick almost one whole year to figure out how to manufacture the compound cheaply enough for sale as a supplement.  Patrick’s lab took on the appearance of ground zero at Hiroshima as he endlessly did reaction after reaction in pursuit of the perfect manufacturing recipe.

  .

Ergopharm’s pledge

Before I introduce exactly what 1-AD is, I want to mention one quick thing. In this industry it’s often hard to find straight answers to exactly what something is, and how something works.  Most often, the case is that the company is evasive with the facts because there really is no existing science that validates the claims they are making.  Either that, or they simply do not understand the science themselves.  Occasionally a company does have science to back up their products, but they decide that the consumer is too simple minded to appreciate the facts.

Ergopharm is different.  We produce products that are backed up by hard scientific fact, and we take great pride in laying everything on the table.  Our strength is our science, and we go to great lengths to explain all the facts and back them up with references.  We understand that not everyone buying our products has a chemistry or biology degree, but we do know that people appreciate being treated with respect and honesty.  They want to know they are being told the straight story, even if they don’t have the background to understand every facet of the presentation.

Introducing 1-AD

Its time to introduce what Patrick refers to as “the crown achievement” of his career.  The formal chemical name of the compound Patrick developed is 5alpha-androst-1-en-3,17-dione.  We nicknamed this compound “1-AD” which is a shortened acronym of its chemical name. Its chemical structure is:     

This compound is truly unique amongst other prohormones in a variety of ways.  Lets look specifically at 1-AD and what it does.

 .

The Power of “1-Testosterone” 

You probably are familiar with the “Andro” prohormones, and the “Norandro” prohormones.  The former convert to testosterone and the latter to 19-nortestosterone.  1-AD, however, does not fit into either of those categories.  That is because 1-AD converts to a relatively unheard of hormone called 1-testosterone.  1-testosterone is what is known as a “double bond isomer” of testosterone.

Although chemically the only difference between testosterone and 1-testosterone is position of the double bond, pharmacologically the two products are quite different.  According to research done by the pharmaceutical giant G.D. Searle and published in the 1960s, 1-testosterone is over 7 times as myotrophic (anabolic) as testosterone.[i]  That makes 1-testosterone a phenomenally potent compound, surpassing even most synthetic anabolic steroids.

.
No Aromatization

1-testosterone differs from testosterone in another way as well. Being a 5alpha-reduced androgen (a DHT derivative) it simply cannot aromatize to estrogens.   The same goes for 1-AD itself - no estrogen transformation can occur.  This makes 1-AD unique compared to other prohormones - all of which can either aromatize directly, convert to a product that aromatizes, or both.  So what does this mean in the real world?  It means that your chances of getting gynecomastia (bitch tits) from 1-AD is essentially zero, and that water retention side effects are vastly reduced compared to other prohormones. 
.

The Only Truly “Orally Active” Prohormone

Natural androgenic steroids are normally not very active orally.  Large amounts have to be taken orally to see biological effects. This is because the liver first pass causes a massive deactivation of the compounds, primarily through the oxidation of the 17beta-hydroxyl to a 17-keto group.  Chemists long ago found that by adding an alkyl (methyl or ethyl) chemical group to the alpha position of the 17 carbon, this oxidation can be prevented.  However, this alkyl derivatization also greatly increases the toxicity on the liver.  Therefore the usage of such synthetically altered compounds (methyltestosterone, oxymetholone, stanozolol) are not without substantial risk.

Luckily, there are other ways to render a steroid orally active, and do so without making the compound toxic to the liver.  Certain structural modifications can alter the metabolism of steroids making them resistant to liver breakdown.  One of these modifications is unsaturation (presence of a double bond) in the 1-position.  One steroid that has this structural modification and is orally active is the anabolic steroid Methenolone, also known as Primobolan.

As you may have noticed, this double bond position that makes Primobolan orally active is the same one found in 1-AD, which BTW is also orally active.  Steroids with this particular double bond characteristic are known as 1-dehydroandrostanes.

During the 60’s and 70’s some papers were published describing the phenomenon of oral activity seen with 1-dehydroandrostanes, including 1-testosterone and 1-AD.  What was discovered was that these compounds resist metabolic deactivation by profoundly shifting what is known as the “17-keto redox potential” towards the formation of active 17beta-hydroxyl steroids.[ii],[iii] What does this mean?  It means that when you take 1-AD, the liver serves primarily to activate the compound, rather than break it down and excrete it as it does with other prohormones and testosterone.  It means that 1-AD is “orally active,” yet it does not impart the liver toxicity that 17alpha-alkylation does.
.

A Natural Hormone Made in the Body

One of the beautiful things about 1-AD is that in addition to its impressive pharmacological activity, it is also a natural androgen made in the human body[iv].  This means that it is not foreign to your body, and that it can legally and openly be sold as a nutritional supplement.  Furthermore, 1-AD’s high rate of active conversion after oral administration is not just a “theory” of Ergopharm’s – it has been demonstrated and published in a highly reputable peer reviewed journal.[v]

.
Summary

Lets put it all together and see what 1-AD has to offer: 

• High oral activity

• Conversion to a hormone 700% more potent than testosterone

• Absolutely NO aromatization to estrogens

• Natural and safe

There can be no argument that this is the ultimate prohormone.  Believe me, there simply are no natural compounds out there that can come close to what 1-AD does, so don’t even bother looking.

  BACK TO CURRENT ISSUE