Indian laboratory develops new rare chemical to strengthen anti-doping testing

Union Sports Minister Anurag Thakur on Sunday launched indigenously developed six new and rare Reference Materials (RMs) which are the purest form of chemical required for anti-doping analysis in all WADA-accredited laboratories across the world.

According to the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports, the six RMs have been developed in less than a year by (National Dope Testing Laboratory) NDTL in association with the National Institute of Pharmaceutical Education and Research (NIPER)-Guwahati and the CSIR-Indian Institute of Integrative Medicine (IIIM), Jammu.

The RMs were launched by the Union Minister of Youth Affairs and Sports, Anurag Singh Thakur during the 15th Governing Body Meeting of NDTL, in the presence of Sports Secretary Sujata Chaturvedi and other senior officials of the Sports Ministry.

With the creation of these RMs NDTL has earned itself the recognition of being one of the few labs in the world where such RMs have been developed.

"These Reference Materials are not readily available across the world but are needed by every WADA-accredited laboratory for their anti-doping analysis. India itself has been importing RMs from Canada and Australia, however, with this scientific development India has indeed taken a step towards Atmanirbhar Bharat, which is the vision of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, in the field of anti-doping science. Very soon, we will also be exporting these RMs to other countries," said Anurag Thakur.

He further added, "The availability of these rare Reference Materials would help the entire anti-doping community to strengthen their testing capabilities and usher in an era of mutual cooperation among countries for promoting fair play in sports policy the world over."

Out of the six Reference Materials launched, three each was synthesized in collaboration with NIPER-Guwahati and CSIR-IIIM, Jammu. Last year too, scientists of NDTL and NIPER-Guwahati succeeded in synthesizing two indigenously developed rare Reference Materials in 2021 which were launched and shared with fellow WADA- Accredited Laboratories.

The launch of these Reference Materials will ensure improved anti-doping testing which is in line with the Sports Ministry's commitment to the promotion and effective implementation of anti-doping programmes in the country with the sole objective of fair play in sports.

( With inputs from ANI )