The fourth Symposium of WADA on therapeutic exceptions has taken placein Helsinki (Finland) on September 21-22, 2017. More than 200 representatives of national anti-doping agencies and international sports federations have taken part in work of the Symposium. RUSADA was represented by the Chairman of the TUE Committee Victoria Badtiyeva and the Head of Science Department Anna Kondakova.
The two-day program of the Symposium included plenary lectures and round tables discussions on various scientific, medical and legal issues concerning the use by athletes of prohibited substances and methods in the presence of medical indications.
Separate sessions were devoted to such diagnoses, as asthma, attention deficit disorder and hyperactivity and androgenic insufficiency and also to the use by athletes of glucocorticoids, beta-blockers and intravenous infusions.
"The WADA symposium in Finland became gave me very useful and valuable experience", Victoria Badtiyeva said after the end of the forum. "More than 200 representatives of national anti-doping agencies and international sports federations participated, mostly, chairmen of TUE committees. It is an environment of medical professionals in their narrow field, and rather specific questions were discussed, such as criteria of separate diagnoses at athletes, lack of alternative for some methods of treatment, evidence base, examination of medical documentation. On the margins of the symposium, naturally, active communication with colleagues took place - working contacts were made, as well as exchange of impressions."
Within the framework of implementation of the measures, set forth by the Roadmap which outlines the measures for RUSADA reinstatement, on August 31, 2017, the Supervisory Board approved the new members of RUSADA TUE Committee.
"Today, the new members of TUE Committee, which has been recently approved by the Supervisory Board of RUSADA, is presented by five experts, each of them is a recognized expert in his/her field – sports medicine, cardiology, neurology, endocrinology, pulmonology", Badtieva said. "It is sure that their clinical expertise and commitment to the ideas of clean sport will be utilized in work of the Committee, the main mission of which is helping in obtaining permissions for therapeutic use exemptions of prohibited substances and methods only to those athletes who really need them by medical indications, which is completely in line with the ethical standards and the principles of work of doctors around the world".
"According to the decision made by WADA in November, 2017, Finnish Anti-Doping Agency will provide training of all the members of our Committee in practices and procedures of therapeutic use exemptions", Badtiyeva said. "I expect that such international cooperation will actively develop in the future".
Currently, processing TUE applications of Russian athletes is carried out by specialists of the UK Anti-Doping.