The occurrence of non-anatomical therapeutic chemical-international nonproprietary name molecules in suspected illegal or illegally traded health products in Europe: A retrospective and prospective study.

The General European Official Medicines Control Laboratory (OMCL) Network (GEON), co-ordinated by the European Directorate for the Quality of Medicines & HealthCare (EDQM), regularly organises market surveillance studies on specific categories of suspected illegal or illegally traded products. These studies are generally based on a combination of retrospective and prospective data collection over a defined period of time. This paper reports the results of the most recent study in this context with the focus on health products containing non-Anatomical Therapeutic Chemical-International Nonproprietary Name (ATC-INN) molecules. In total 1104 cases were reported by 16 countries for the period between January 2017 and the end of September 2019. The vast majority of these samples (83%) were collected from the illegal market, while only 3% originated from a legal source. For the rest of the samples, categorisation was not possible. Moreover, 69% of all the reported samples were presented as medicines, including sexual performance enhancers, sports performance enhancers, physical performance enhancers and cognitive enhancers or nootropic molecules that act on the central nervous system (CNS). Although the popularity of anabolics, PDE-5 inhibitors and CNS drugs in illegal products has already been reported, the study showed some new trends and challenges. Indeed, 11% of the samples contained molecules of biological origin, that is, research peptides, representing the second most reported category in this study. Furthermore, the study also clearly shows the increasing popularity of Selective Androgen Receptor Modulators and nootropics, two categories that need attention and should be further monitored.

Doping substances in dietary supplements. / Dopingmidler i kosttilskudd.

BACKGROUND: International studies have shown that 12-58 % of all dietary supplements intended for people who exercise and engage in sports contain substances prohibited by the World Anti-Doping Code (WADC). In some cases, the doping substances are not declared on the product label, and the consumer may therefore be unaware of what he/she ingests. Many of the substances may cause adverse health effects, and sale of such products is illegal in Norway. MATERIAL AND METHOD: To investigate the prevalence of doping substances in dietary supplements sold on the Norwegian market, a total of 93 high-risk products from online shops targeting Norwegian consumers were analysed for substances on the WADC Prohibited List and pharmaceutical drugs. All supplements were marketed as able to boost energy levels and/or having a muscle-building or fat-burning effect. The products were selected on the basis of tips received, online forums and/or international lists. RESULTS: Altogether 21 of 93 (23 %) products analysed contained prohibited substances, pharmaceutical drugs and/or illegal amounts of caffeine. Substances on the WADC Prohibited List were detected in 8 of the 93 (9 %) dietary supplements. All products containing doping substances were declared as containing one or more banned substances. INTERPRETATION: The results show that using apparently legal dietary supplements purchased in online shops targeting Norwegian consumers involves a risk of inadvertent doping and adverse health effects.