Baltic Export, Latvia, Markets and Companies, Medicine

As reported, WADA added meldonium, which was developed in Latvia, to the banned list on January 1 after claiming there was evidence that it was being used for performance enhancing purposes. Latvian-made Mildronate hit the headlines earlier this year after Russian tennis player Maria Sharapova admitted that she had failed a dope test at the Australian Open after taking the medication.

This month representatives of Latvian Grindex pharmaceutical company met with representatives of WADA and agreed on cooperation, still the parties did not agree on removing Mildronate from the list of prohibited substances.

WADA had extended the period in which athletes testing positive for meldonium can escape sanctions until September 30. WADA extended a policy that had previously covered the period from January 1 to March 1. Even though this has not been officially announced yet, meldonium will be banned completely from October 1.

Recently meldonium was also included in the list of banned substances by the National Hockey League.