Sharapova is a drug cheat - simple as that. She should get the 4 years suspension.
Meldonium company says normal course of treatment is four to six weeks. Certainly not 10 years for a drug only sold in Latvia and online - not approved in the USA or Europe in general.
• Meldonium is used to treat ischaemia: a lack of blood flow to parts of the body, particularly in cases of angina or heart failure.
• It is manufactured in Latvia and only distributed in Baltic countries and Russia. It is not approved by the Food and Drug Administration for use in the United States and is not authorised in the rest of Europe.
• It increases blood flow, which improves exercise capacity in athletes.
• Wada found “evidence of its use by athletes with the intention of enhancing performance” by virtue of carrying more oxygen to muscle tissue.
• The decision to add meldonium to the banned list was approved on 16 September 2015, and it came into effect on 1 January 2016. Wada had spent the previous year monitoring the drug before adding it to the banned list.
The drug was name-checked in the latest investigative documentary on Russian doping reforms by the German Hajo Seppelt on Sunday. The documentary referred to a 2015 study in which 17% of Russian athletes (724 of 4,316) tested were found to have meldonium in their system. A global study found 2.2% of athletes had it in their system.
• L’Equipe reported that the scientific advisor to the French Agency Against Doping (AFLD), Professor Xavier Bigard, said in interviews with athletes at last year’s European Games in Baku that a wide proportion of athletes admitted taking meldonium.
• It is classed as an S4 substance under the Wada code, which addresses hormone and metabolic modulators.
• A memo was sent out to athletes by Russia’s anti-doping agency last September informing them of the decision to ban its use.
Several athletes have been suspended since the turn of 2016 after testing positive for the dug. Abebe Aregawi, the 2013 women’s 1,500m world champion, has been provisionally suspended after meldonium was found in a sample she provided. Endeshaw Negesse, the 2015 Tokyo marathon champion, was also banned after reportedly testing positive for the same substance. Others include Olga Abramova and Artem Tyschcenko, two Ukrainian biathletes, Eduard Vorganov, a Russian cyclist and Ekaterina Bobrova, a Russian ice dancer.