Russian Methandrostenolone…

BY RONNY TOBER 

Over the past 10 years, the two most well known and sought after Russian brands of methandrostenolone have been manufactured by the firms Akrihin and Bioreactor.The Akrihin product goes back a very long way, and is still in production today. It remains the principle agent of reference when someone is speaking about “Russian DBol”, or at least it should be. The product from Bioreactor is actually no longer being made, and was discontinued a few years ago. It was dropped simply because the firm’s license on the sale of the agent had expired.The availability of old batches, counterfeits, and outright fakes of the Bioreactor product makes this a topic to discuss, and has been included in our article on Russian methandrostenolone, even though it is no longer actively made there. So we know what they are, now what do we know about them?

After all,Russian D-bol has been the product of great speculation over the years. Let’s get to the facts and the fakes. Years ago, one of the most trusted U.S. steroid gurus (Dan Duchaine) wrote that he disliked Russian Dianabol because of manufacturing and quality control issues. In his opinion, it was a combination ofmethandienone and methyl-testosterone. He believed that the manufacturers used contaminated, expired tablets for their new batches, which would have made it impossible for the end-user to dose properly as the tablet dosage could not have been accurate.

Russian Dianabol has been dogged by this stigma ever since, so we were curious to get a Russian perspective.We sought the expertise of a highly respected bodybuilder and forum moderator known as Retabolil or just Ret Ret: “Bioreactor was illegally made and I never liked it. Akrihin® was top notch. Yes, it had more methyl-test then any other brand, but it also gave me increadible mass and strength gains. The most popular brand in Russia today is Naposim®. It’s very different from Russian Dianabol though, it doesn’t make you hold so much water.”

In Figure 1 we see the comparison of the earlier (pre-2000) Russian methandrostenolone boxes by Bioreactor and Akrihin. Both of them bear the same name of the active ingredient, methandrostenolone, the same active drug formerly listed on Ciba’s Dianabol. But in Europe, the active ingredient is mostly referred to as methandienone.A notorious early counterfeit of the Bioreactor product made the mistake of using the European form of the name, which made it easy to recognize as a counterfeit. This gave Akrihin the idea to register the name methandrostenolone, so they can protect its use on the Russian market.

Many people wonder why we refer to the name of the manufacturer as Bioreactor. Consumers always refer to this product as made by Peaktop.Well, this is just a matter of translation. In Russian (Cyrillic), the letters “Peaktop”translated to the western characters Reaktor (Reactor).As for the word Bio, you can see it clearly in their logo (Figure 2). Because these boxes and blisters are printed in Russian Cyrillic letters, most of those unfamiliar also refer to the Akrihin product as made by Akpuxuh. If you translate Akrihin to the English language it would actually be Akrikhin.

Around 1999, Akrihin went to court and demanded exclusivity for the brand name Methandrostenolon. This was granted to the company in 2000. This forced Bioreactor to find a new name for its product. It chose to use the generic (European) term for the active drug,Methandienon. Since their product changed,Bioreactor now had a new admission number, which is 000009/01- 2000 (Figure 3).The new boxes that Akrihin started to print after this legal decision added the ® after the name (Figure 4), to reflect the registered mark.On the side of the box it mentions the registration number N° 157297.Akrihin can continue to manufacture and sell the methandrostenolone under the same permission number from 1975: P. 75. 850. 5 Bioreactor formerly used the same permission number on its box and blisters.

Not only had the name changed to Methandienon,but for the active ingredient Bioreactor started using the term methandienoni as well (Figure 5). A remarkable fact is that the barcodes on both the box and the blisters changed.And each part has a unique barcode too, since it is possible to buy loose blisters in pharmacies.The barcode for the box changed from 4 602227 003373 to 4 602227 000717, and the blister from 000359 into 000700.Why is that important?

Well, a view at the new and old blisters will show you why (Figure 6).Simply looking for the numbers can tell you if your new product may actually be an old fake.

It is in the deviations that we find the easy to spot counterfeits.One such recent version is an exact copy of the old and forbidden blister, but the batch number is the same as the new version. This batch was made on March 2001, and under the new rules should bear the new numbers (P N° 01-2001, remember). In this comparison picture of all three versions (Figure 7), it clearly shows that this counterfeited version (bottom) is of a far lesser quality than the original ones. The blisters were smuggled to Europe in large quantities,with an imperfect box that doesn’t even look like the real one (Figure 8). The counterfeiter didn’t copy it well at all, but at least showed his artistic capabilities.

Bioreactor is no longer made, but as usual counterfeiters filled the void and started to produce this counterfeited item that is really overflowing in Europe. I know for a fact that it is Russian made, but that’s not news.An increasing amount of fakes and counterfeits are being made by the same people that produce in both Russia and Germany.

I was determent to analyze this item to see what it contains. The test report from SRCS was an unexpected surprise (Figure 9). It showed that this counterfeit almost contained the labelled content ofMethandrostenolone (5 milligram per tablet).

It seems that I have had some influence over the market here . I say this because we posted these pictures on our forum and the counterfeiter must have read it because the mistakes were quickly fixed. I,however,was able to find some other signs that gave the new fake away. The new copy is currently sold without the box, which the counterfeiter will likely fix in the future after this information is made public. The blisters are sold by 200

pieces bound with elastic with a leaflet, but it is a bad quality copy of the real product information. The counterfeiter changed his most obvious mistake, and started to use the term “methandienoni”this time instead of “Methandroloni”. Plus, he used the new (correct) barcode and admission number.

One thing he could not change was the way the foil was pressed onto the plastic. You can clearly see this in the comparison picture, with the real item on the bottom (Figure 10).He is also using a new lot number and expiration date. A closer look at the data is also very telling (Figure 11). Again, they made another obvious mistake. They changed the production date to 02-11-2002.  The expiration date should, therefore, be November, with the Roman numerals XI, Instead, they are still using II, which means this product expires in February Other

important things to note: the color and letter type differs from the original, and the foil is attached to the plastic using a totally different raster (Figure 12).

I confirmed with Akrihin that this 300- tablet tube was a fake (Figure 13). On a lot of Internet discussion forums there are furious arguments about the ingredients. According to Dutch analysis, the first 300-piece tube contained only methyl-testosterone. The latest version of REAL Akrihin is the purple box and a newly styled blister (see Figure 14 for a comparison).

But together with the different counterfeit tubes, an English (joint stock) version of the Akrihin boxes and blisters is also sold on the black market (Figure 15).The number of products claiming to be Akrihin are staggering. It is a clear counterfeit because Akri hin has been printing the registration sign (®), its registration number,and license number on its blisters and boxes since January 2000.We analyzed this English version,and just like the counterfeited Bioreactor, the result came close to the label claim.

In Figure 16 you will see an even newer fake Russian item purportedly from Bioreactor. It is a 200-piece tube filled to the very brim with tablets. We sent this item in for analysis as well, and asked the lab to analyze for both methandrostenolone and methyltestosterone this time. The results are pending.

Figures 17,18,and 19 present three more, far less crafty counterfeits of what is supposed to be Russian methandrostenolone.

In Russia, no one, except for a few unsuspecting consumers, buys these common counterfeits. According to Ret, these were made mainly for the Scandinavian market, where the buyers are less aware of what real Russian methandrostenolone looks like. Just like us, Ret believes that most of these fake tubes and blisters do contain active ingredients.

In Russia,most users actually prefer the Naposim® product from Hungary, which is viewed as clear and reliable .Some underground Labs also sell methandrostenolone,

such as Metanox (LSP) and Anabol tablets (British Pharmaceuticals, not British Dispensary).

The latter was analyzed by us and lot number 120105 contained 4.62 mg/tab methandrostenolone. But these items come nowhere close to the popularity of Naposim® in Russia

Let me introduce you to the new version of good old Akrixin methandrostenolone that has been on the market for a very long time but is counting it's last days on it. For those who do not know: Akrihin stopped its production and only batches for export to Kazakhstan and Moldova are left. All latest batches of Akrihin products (including methandrostenolone) are packed in new blue-white boxes.

In Moldova and the Ukraine you can still find it without too much efforts but in very low quantities. But you can always try your luck and ask locally for it, maybe someone can sell it to you. But take good care the old (counterfeited) version made in Bulgaria still floats the black market.

The best option is to order it from Then you are sure that you obtain a genuine product.