Clean Sport: India Develops Rare Anti-Doping Reference Material

In a significant step towards enhancing accuracy in dope testing, Union Sports Minister Dr. Mansukh Mandaviya on September 4, 2025, launched a rare, high-purity reference material, methandienone long-term metabolite.

Methandienone, also known as metandienone, methandrostenolone, and other names, is an anabolic androgenic steroid that continues to be misused in sport despite being prohibited by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA).

Reference materials are highly pure chemical compounds that are used for dope testing, and only a few manufacturers worldwide are involved in producing them. The new methandienone long-term metabolite reference material has been developed by the National Institute of Pharmaceutical Education and Research (NIPER), Guwahati, under the Department of Pharmaceuticals, in collaboration with the National Dope Testing Laboratory (NDTL).

Both entities are working to synthesise 22 such reference materials that are not commercially available worldwide for anti-doping analysis. Since 2020, NIPER Guwahati has delivered 12 of these to NDTL, with the long-term metabolite of methandienone being the latest. These long-term metabolites are excreted in urine for extended periods, enabling the detection of methandienone use months or even years after the athlete’s last dose.

In recent years, NDTL has successfully synthesised reference materials for prohibited substances such as prenylamine, etamivan, and octopamine. This new capability is expected to strengthen anti-doping efforts, protect clean athletes, and act as a deterrent against the use of banned substances.