Maria Sharapova may be suspended for a drug that has no performance-enhancing qualities.
The drug for which the Russian tennis star tested positive, meldonium, is used in treating a variety of ailments.
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But whether meldonium actually works in any of those conditions --- including increasing athletic performance --- is subject to debate, according to the New York Times.
Among the uses for the drug include treating heart ailments, strokes, diabetes and Alzheimer's diseases, the Times reported. It has been used as mood enhancer. It even has been used to make sperm better swimmers within boars.
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"But some experts said that the evidence for such claims was scant and that it was not even clear if the drug improves athletic performance," the Times reported. "And they said there was little reason for someone like Sharapova to have taken it to treat her medical conditions, as she says she did.
"The evidence around whether it is a performance-enhancing drug is quite thin," said Mark Stuart, a pharmacist in London who is on the medical and antidoping commission of the European Olympic Committees."
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The Times added that Grindeks, the Latvian compan that makes Mildronate, the brand name for meldonium, denies performance-enhancing effects by taking the drug.
Meldonium "is used to prevent death of ischemic cells and not to increase performance of normal cells," it said in a statement. "Meldonium cannot improve athletic performance, but it can stop tissue damage in the case of ischemia," which is lack of blood flow to the heart."
Some of Sharapova's detractor are up in arms because the drug is not USDA-approved, but the USDA hasn't even had a chance to study it, the Times reported.
"Grindeks said it had not applied for approval of the drug in the United States because that would require costly clinical trials," the article stated. "It would not pay for the company to do that because the patent on the drug has expired, and Grindeks could face generic competition."
Still, the fact that so many athletes are using it seems to point to the fact that they believe it could improve their performance is a black mark against Sharapova.
"But the fact that multiple athletes have used it suggests that they believe it improves performance, (Stuart) said. 'I can't see how so many athletes - young, quite fit and healthy - would really have a need for this particular drug.'"
Sharapova's provisional suspension begins March 12, and she could face up to a four-year ban.
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