US sports leagues move to add Sharapova drug to banned list – Reuters

DETROIT, March 16 Several major U.S. sports
leagues are pushing to add the drug that led to a positive test
for Russian tennis star Maria Sharapova to their banned list,
but in many cases they will need player approval before they can
hit that goal.

Sharapova, who last week revealed she had tested positive
for the banned drug meldonium at the Australian Open in January,
is facing suspension of up to four years by the International
Tennis Federation.

The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) added meldonium to its
banned substance list on Jan. 1 after concluding it improves
blood flow and boosts exercise capacity. Most North American
sports groups do not automatically follow WADA’s list, and must
in turn negotiate with unionized players to add any drugs to
their respective banned lists.

The PGA Tour, the organizer of the main professional golf
tours in North America, told Reuters it plans to add meldonium
to its banned list, while Major League Baseball (MLB) said it
has raised the issue with its players. The National Basketball
Association (NBA), National Football League (NFL) and the
National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) all said they
plan to explore a possible ban.

Only the U.S. Olympic Committee (USOC) and Major League
Soccer banned the drug when WADA did.

The PGA Tour generally follows the WADA list with few
exceptions, said Andy Levinson, vice president of anti-doping.
Golf’s banned list was last revised in October, prior to the
start of the 2015-2016 season. “Meldonium will be added in the
2016 revision,” he said.

Athletes who test positive for a banned drug face fines and
suspensions. Any players who might argue they need meldonium for
medical reasons can still apply for what most sports call a
therapeutic-use exemption, which allows athletes who have a
doctor’s backing to take a banned substance with league
approval.

Some experts said athletes may have a hard time proving
their medical need for a drug sold only in a few former Soviet
countries and not approved for use in western Europe or the
United States.

Meldonium is marketed as Mildronate by the Latvian
pharmaceutical firm Grindeks, which has said the drug
could protect athletes from cell damage, but would be unlikely
to improve their competitive performance.

WADA said last week it had recorded 99 positive tests for
the recently-banned drug and according to research in the
British Journal of Sports Medicine, use of meldonium was
widespread among elite athletes competing at the European Games
in Baku last year.

“The sheer prevalence of meldonium indicates that the
athletes believe it has performance-enhancing benefits,” said
Michael Pearlmutter, executive director of the Partnership for
Clean Competition, an anti-doping organization started in 2008
with funding from the USOC, MLB and the NFL.

Baseball said the drug is already banned in its minor
leagues, where the sport does not have to negotiate with the
players. At the major league level, the sport approached the
union about adding meldonium to the banned list after WADA
prohibited it but before Sharapova’s positive test became public
news.

“We are still in discussions with the MLBPA regarding any
additions to the banned list in the Major Leagues for the 2016
season,” MLB spokesman Patrick Courtney said of the players’
union, Major League Baseball Players Association.

The NBA has a prohibited substances committee that includes
players’ union members and the league said it will be raising
meldonium with the committee.

NFL spokesman Brian McCarthy said the sport’s officials
“periodically review the list of prohibited substances with our
medical advisors and make modifications as appropriate. We
anticipate it will be a topic of discussion this offseason.”

NCAA spokesman Christopher Radford said the college sports
group’s committee that oversees testing would review the drug’s
classification at its next meeting in June. While the committee
considers what WADA is doing, it does not automatically adopt
the anti-doping group’s banned list, he said.

National Hockey League spokesman Schuyler Baehman said the
earliest meldonium could be added to the league’s banned list
would be in advance of next season. He declined to say whether
the sport would negotiate with the players to ban the drug.

(Reporting by Ben Klayman in Detroit; Editing by Alan Crosby)