The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and Astellas Pharma Inc. announced a global agreement to partner on the prevention of misuse and abuse of medicines for doping in sports. Doping in sports relies primarily on the misuse and abuse of commercially available medicines, as well as compounds in development that are not as well-known or easily detected.

To support WADA in its efforts to address this issue, Astellas will identify compounds solely developed by Astellas or its affiliates with the potential for sport-related doping abuse and will cooperate in sharing relevant information to aid WADA in the organization’s development of detection methods for these compounds. Additionally, Astellas will cooperate with WADA to minimize the risk of misuse of compounds with doping potential during clinical trials to avoid opportunities for abuse.

“WADA is encouraged to be partnering with Astellas on the prevention of misuse and abuse of medicines for doping in sports,” said Sir Craig Reedie, president, WADA. “It’s a win-win arrangement. Essentially, Astellas will inform WADA during compound development if there is potential for future abuse in sport; and, the Agency commits to inform Astellas should it uncover evidence of black market supply involving their compounds. This partnership acknowledges that the impacts of doping extend well beyond elite athletes to include society on the whole.”

“Astellas is committed to ensuring the safe and effective use of its therapies in appropriate settings, and we are proud to be the first Japan-based company to partner with WADA in its efforts to prevent the inappropriate use of medical products through doping,” said Kenji Yasukawa, Ph.D., chief strategy officer, Astellas. “Enhancing performance in sports through doping is considered a serious public health issue by the sport movement and public authorities worldwide. It is critical that pharmaceutical companies play a role in helping to address this important public health concern.”

Astellas’ activities are aligned with recent guidance published by WADA and the International Federation of Pharmaceutical Manufacturers & Associations (IFPMA) to help pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies increase their role in the fight against sport-related doping. The guidance, titled Points to Consider: Identification of Compounds with Potential for Doping Abuse and Sharing of Information with WADA, includes best practices on establishing a voluntary process for determining the potential doping risk of compounds in their development pipelines before they are commercially available.

The Points to Consider guidance is an extension of the Joint Declaration on Cooperation in the Fight Against Doping that was signed by IFPMA and WADA in July 2010, and endorsed by the global Biotechnology Industry Organization (BIO) in June 2011, to combat the latest doping techniques.