The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) has been roundly criticized for the unfairness of its meldonium witch-hunt this year. WADA failed to give any consideration to the excretion times of meldonium metabolism. It started testing for meldonium in January immediately after it became illegal when the new WADA prohibited substance list went into effect on January 1, 2016
Ivar Kalvins, the medicinal chemist who first synthesized meldonium in the 1970s, was the first scientific expert to criticize WADA for its embarrassing lack of evidence-based information on the excretion rates of meldonium. If WADA does not know the excretion rates then it has no idea how long it will take the drug to clear from the human body.
“WADA has blacklisted it as a prohibited formula, but nobody knows for how long it may stay in the human body. Nobody has ever conducted research into this matter yet,” Kalvins said. “There had been no need for such research. Clearly, it may be not hours, but days, or possibly weeks. It all depends on the accuracy of the method of testing. You may identify the traces of medications you took three months ago, provided you have the equipment that is sensitive enough.”
Kalvins outlined the perfect defense strategy for the 172 athletes who tested positive for meldonium in the first three months of 2016. Athletes would simply claim to have discontinued the use of meldonium BEFORE it became illegal on January 1, 2016. The athletes would argue that any meldonium that remained detectable in 2016 anti-doping tests originated with use that occurred prior to the drug’s ban.
The defense strategy was a good one that was bound to cause numerous headaches for WADA and its national anti-doping organizations (NADOs) if any of the provisionally suspended athletes appealed their meldonium-based suspensions. And Kalvins promised to help any and all athletes who wished to appeal the WADA nonsense.
On April 13, 2016, WADA conceded that its targeted meldonium campaign was seriously flawed when it released a statement to address the massive number of failed meldonium drug tests. WADA admitted that it was operating in the absence of reliable excretion data. Of particular interest to athletes, WADA also outlined specific conditions in which meldonium positives could be overlooked and forgiven.
“In the case of meldonium, there is currently a lack of clear scientific information on excretion times,” according to the WADA statement. “For this reason, a hearing panel might justifiably find (unless there is specific evidence to the contrary) that an athlete who has established on the balance of probabilities that he or she ingested meldonium before 1 January 2016 could not reasonably have known or suspected that the meldonium would still be present in his or her body on or after 1 January 2016. In these circumstances, WADA considers that there may be grounds for no fault or negligence on the part of the athlete.”
WADA continued to insist that any athlete busted with meldonium in the system this year was still guilty under the WADA code. Nonetheless, WADA provided athletes with a get-out-of-jail card if the athletes did NOT admit using meldonium after it became illegal on January 1, 2016 AND the levels of meldonium were less than 15 microgram per milliliter.
Maria Sharapova, the highest-paid woman in tennis, was the first casualty of the 2016 meldonium witch-hunt. John Haggerty, the attorney representing Sharapova, remains hopeful that WADA’s improper handling on the meldonium issue will benefit his client.
“Given the fact that scores of athletes have tested positive for taking what previously was a legal product, it’s clear WADA did not handle this properly last year and they’re trying to make up for it now,” Haggerty said in a statement. “The notice underscores why so many legitimate questions have been raised concerning WADA’s process in banning meldonium as well as the manner in which they notified players.”
However, we think that the new WADA guidance is bad news for Sharapova. Rather than insist she followed the rules and discontinued using meldonium when it became illegal, Sharapova’s legal and public relations team pleaded ignorance of the new law and clearly suggested that she had continued using meldonium after January 1, 2016.
So contrary to news reports that Sharapova will escape a suspension based on the new WADA guidance, it is our opinion that her tacit admission of meldonium use after January 1st will results in her suspension being upheld.
WADA’s guidance on meldonium is good news for most of the 172 meldonium positives. But not Sharapova.