Last week a massive anti-doping lab was unveiled by the Olympic organisers, and has been hailed as the most high-tech in the history of the games.

The new Essex-based facility cost pharmaceutical giant GlaxoSmithKline a hefty sum of £20 million, and they have not surprisingly said that it would be their primary contribution to the games. For that amount of money one would expect some impressive stats and the lab delivers in abundance.

The facility is roughly the size of seven tennis courts and is set to operate 24 hours a day. Manned by over 1 000 people, including 150 anti-doping scientists, the lab hopes to run at least 6 250 tests on blood and urine samples with an average of 400 samples a day. Operations will be overseen by Professor David Cowan from the Drug Control Centre at King’s College London, and he’s aiming to have 24-hour turnarounds on certain samples.

“These laboratories are the most high-tech labs in the history of the Games, analysing more samples than ever before,” Professor Cowan said.

“We have developed, with GSK support, super-fast and super-sensitive technologies to be able to detect use of prohibited substances. Our role is to ensure the efficient and effective operation of the lab to deliver robust anti-doping testing for the Games.”

“The Anti-Doping process during the London 2012 Games will create a legacy of knowledge about operations and processes. In July 2011, GSK signed an agreement with the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) to share information about its medicines in development, while LOCOG will debrief on all processes.”

In total, 10 500 athletes are expected at the Olympics and the Paralympics later this year and organisers are confident that at least half of all contestants will be tested. Special focus will be paid to certain “high-risk” events, predominantly individual sports.

As Hugh Robertson, Minister for Sport and the Olympics, put it,

We are doing all we can to ensure that there is no place to hide for drug cheats at London 2012. Our message to any athlete thinking about doping is simple – we’ll catch you.

The unveiling of this lab also marked the first time that a pharmaceutical company has sponsored an anti-doping facility.

[Source: BBC, Telegraph, Daily Mail]