Table 1.

Comparison of myotrophic and androgenic activities of anabolic steroids—examples were drawn from a much more comprehensive table (with referenced papers) presented by Potts et al. (1976)

Steroid	Route	Reference steroid	Activity		Index value
			Myotrophic	Androgenic
Chloromethyl T	p.o.	17α-MeT	0.5	0.10–0.15	3–5
Methandienone	p.o.	17α-MeT	0.60	0.20	3
Methenolone acetate	p.o.	17α-MeT	0.86	0.12	7
Nandrolone decanoate	par.	T propionate	3.29–4.92	0.41–0.31	12.1–10.6
Norbolethonea	par.	T propionate	3.44	0.15–0.17	20
Norethandrolone	par.	T propionate	0.77–1.0	0.06–0.38	2–16
Oxandroloneb	par.	17α-MeT	3.22	0.24	13
Oxymesterone	p.o.	17α-MeT	1.34	0.42–0.61	2.2–3.2
Oxymetholone	p.o.	17α-MeT	3.20	0.45	7.1
Stanozolol	p.o.	17α-MeT	2.0–3.7	0.33–0.52	6–10.6
T	p.o.	17α-MeT	0.36	0.28–0.50	0.7–1.3

Abbreviations: par., parenteral; T, testosterone.

^aNorbolethone was developed in 1966 but it was never commercially marketed. It was detected in two urine samples from an athlete (August 2001, March 2002) by Catlin et al. (2002). A US Government Investigation revealed that a chemist based in Champaign (IL, USA) synthesized this steroid and it was distributed by a company called BALCO Laboratories (see also the section ‘Designer steroids').

^bOnly the activity for the parenteral route available.