Meldonium producer trying to get drug excluded from prohibited list

Riga, March 10 (IANS) Latvian pharmaceutical firm Grindex, the producer of Meldonium, is struggling with the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) for the drug's exclusion from the list of prohibited substances, Grindex spokeswoman Laila Klavina said on Thursday.

The drug Meldonium, also known as Mildronate, was included in the list of preparations banned by the WADA from January 1, 2016, reports Tass.

"We’re struggling for excluding Mildronate from the list of prohibited substances," Klavina said.

"We communicated with WADA representatives, provided all arguments and facts, research data to exclude Mildronate from the list of prohibited substances. The discussion is open to this day. The company will be doing everything possible to return the preparation to the category of allowed substances," the Grindex spokeswoman said.

The company’s dialogue with the WADA stays outside the realm of judicial proceedings, she said. "This is not an issue of court proceedings because in this case we would have acted differently. Now we’re working in compliance with all the juridical procedures prescribed for this situation," she added.

The drug Meldonium was included in the list of preparations banned after which several Russian athletes tested positive for the banned substance.

The presence of this formula in the athlete’s blood during and between competitions is a violation of anti-doping rules. The substance belongs to S4 class on the WADA blacklist (hormones and metabolic modulators).

Those who have proved to have used meldonium since are cyclist Eduard Vorganov, figure skater Yekaterina Bobrova, tennis player Maria Sharapova, skater Pavel Kulizhnikov, short-track skaters Semion Elistratov and Ekaterina Konstantinova, volleyball player Aleksandr Markin and biathlete Eduard Latypov.

Meanwhile, Grindex said on its website on Wednesday that "Mildronate is widely used in the clinical practice. During increased physical activity, it restores the oxygen balance of tissue cells as well as it activates the metabolic processes that results in lower requirements of oxygen consumption for energy production. Mildronate is widely recognized by health care professionals and patients, and this may include athletes as well.".