What do we know about meldonium (drug Aregawi was busted for)?

They didn't worry about evidence when they banned argon. They just had USADA print some guff about how hydrogen sulfide and carbon monoxide are dangerous to inhale, so they better ban inert gases too.

I bet Telmisartan is used in countries not starting with "R" unlike argon mostly was.

Telmisartan hasn't taken off for a reason.

As for meldo, if it works as intended everyone will end up using it. And why not if it makes us better? How many drugs have actually done this? I believe the answer is zero? Is anything banned that makes us all healthier and in possession of greater vitality over a long period of time?

with mild but real ergogenic effects, I'm guessing most here are relatively unimpressed. consider though that if it gave her even a .5% advantage that would be a second over 1500m. That is the difference between aregawi running away with these and losing them. THough the real effect is unknowable and like when athletes test positive for diuretics, it is highly possible that it is merely indicative of something larger.

There isa nice review here on pg 59:

http://www.lsu.lt/sites/default/files/paveiksleliai/current_issues_and_new_ideas_in_sport_science.pdf

That's interesting stuff. It's an abstract from the "Baltic Sports Science Conference" in 2012. In 2012 mildronate had been identified as a PED that was not banned and didn't have bad side effects.

Footnote 4 cites a paper from Tbilisi that tested mildronate on judo athletes in 2002. Since mildronate is made in Latvia and based on the positives that have already been found from Georgia, Ukraine, Russia, and Sweden, I wouldn't be surprised if doping with mildronate has been common in former soviet and baltic countries for a long time.

Anthony Galea, the Canadian doctor who treated Tiger Woods among others and had a bunch of legal troubles, had mildronate in his office when it was raided in 2010-

During the raid of Galea's office, authorities seized 42 patient medical files, the doctor's bank account statements, a file containing checks written to Galea, and computer hard drives, a recorder and other record-keeping devices. The bevy of seized substances ranges from the dietary supplement Xentropin, which promises HGH-like results, to a single ampoule of HGH and the anti-inflammatory drug Torado, to Mildronate, a heart medicine that's billed as capable of helping healthy people deal with physical and mental stress overload.

Interesting Letsrun connection for background-

So it looks like it might have been used in North America since at least 2010.

nobody cares... wrote:

Is anything banned that makes us all healthier and in possession of greater vitality over a long period of time?

yes, kinder eggs

i'm confused... it seems like the effectiveness of meldonium lies in the reduced concentration of carnitine in the body, but wasn't carnitine being touted as a supplement to improve exercise performance? i seem to recall alberto saladbar getting mo farah and the NOP on to it

Confused123 wrote:

i'm confused... it seems like the effectiveness of meldonium lies in the reduced concentration of carnitine in the body, but wasn't carnitine being touted as a supplement to improve exercise performance? i seem to recall alberto saladbar getting mo farah and the NOP on to it

summary?

coach d wrote:

[quote]

In the present study, the existing evidence of Mildronate's usage in sport, which is arguably not (exclusively) based on medicinal reasons, is corroborated by unequivocal analytical data {are you reading, Jon Orange?} allowing the estimation of the prevalence and extent of misuse in professional sports. Such data are vital to support decision-making processes, particularly regarding the ban on drugs in sport. Due to the growing body of evidence (black market products and athlete statements) concerning its misuse in sport, adequate test methods for the reliable identification of Mildronate are required, especially since the substance has been added to the 2015 World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) monitoring program.

[ . . . ]

(

So basically it's being banned because athletes *think* it is performance enhancing (and may tend to misuse it, i.e. outside of its intended use for heart disease patients), more than any *actual* performance enhancing effects (as a meta-analysis of the studies mentioned is inconclusive).

What are the side effects? Aren't adverse side effects part of the criteria for prohibition? Growing up I understood that we banned steroids and EPO because they were also bad for your health.... Otherwise it's like treating marijuana and heroin the same way.

Yummy Drugs wrote:

Meldonium is flying off the shelves in Portland.

A certain Oregon coach buys it from faraway places. Buying it locally (within the USofA) is not allowed.

Doping in our time wrote:

Yummy Drugs wrote:

Meldonium is flying off the shelves in Portland.

You can buy it on ebay-

http://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_from=R40&_trksid=p2050601.m570.l1313.TR0.TRC0.H0.Xmeldonium.TRS0&_nkw=meldonium&_sacat=0

Ummm, from "Russian Federation" per your link.

all doped up wrote:

We know that pretty much everybody used it before 01/01/2016. Until then it was legal. A few either forgot to stop taking it or they confused it with some other still legal PED.

Damnit. That means she'll probably keep the 2013 title. Well, we know who the real champion is.

What is the suspension length going to be?

Seems like a pretty good case for a short suspension (unfortunately).

Yummy Drugs wrote:[/b

You can buy it on ebay-

http://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_from=R40&_trksid=p2050601.m570.l1313.TR0.TRC0.H0.Xmeldonium.TRS0&_nkw=meldonium&_sacat=0

Ummm, from "Russian Federation" per your link.[/quote]

How is this sold on eBay? I guess you just don't need a prescription?

Meldo wrote:

What is the suspension length going to be?

Seems like a pretty good case for a short suspension (unfortunately).

She's still a happy, smiling, incapable of cheating (and it doesn't work anyway) African at heart.

I wouldn't ban her at all.

If the stuff was legal prior to 01/01/2016 it does seem a little harsh to ban someone for a lengthy period for taking it a few weeks after that date. Why suddenly ban a substance that has - apparently - been quite widely used for years? On what grounds are some things banned and others not? That something improves performance? In that case ban injections of vitamins, something that is very widely done across all sports. That something is dangerous to health? Pretty much any drug - asprin, ibuprofen, paracetamol etc. - is dangerous if you visit your local chemist, load up on the stuff and take vast quantities of it. Are any of the PEDs on the banned list really dangerous to health if they are taken under medical supervision as part of a closely supervised programme?

We all want "clean" sport and to see "cheats" caught and punished but the sport is in danger of making itself look ridiculous if it goes round banning anything and everything that might possibly aid performance including stuff that athletes have been using for years.

It's funny how we make statement such as "we know who the real champion is". You do not know what Jenny has done in the past. She may well have used this or another substance which is not recognized as a banned agent (yet). Because Jenny is a pretty white innocent looking girl, we put a halo on her head and call her the real champion. Nice people and bad people dope! Aregawi failing a test for this stuff in January makes me look at this situation in a different light. I would not be surprised if her previous tests showed this substance but it was simply not banned at the time. Drug testing is very stupid. Depending on the half life of this drug, she could have ingested it in December when it was still perfectly legal. Performance enhancement is part of the sport, it is the reason we train, it is the reason we take various other supplements. If I can find a substance which is not banned but improves performance, why would I not take it? I am not cheating! Whether Aregawi knew it was a performance enhancer or not does not matter! She was not a cheat according to the banned list. I can take all the t3 I want, it is not cheating, but if wada change their mind tomorrow and come to my house you a,l would label me a cheat. That is not fair!

Taking prescription medicines that are aimed at improving capacity to improve cardiac functioning or oxygen use without medical basis, without filing a therapeutic exception, without reporting such is doping pure and simple.

The grey area is when a doctor enters the picture and claims that the athlete needs the medicine to function normally. But, to surreptitiously procure and use a prescription medicine is clear cut cheating.