Talk about a resounding celebrity endorsement. Because a lot of the times, you can’t be sure the people who plug products are really using them.
Is Kevin Spacey actually a Noxzema fan, using the alcohol pads to degrease his face? Does Kevin Harvick Jr. eat Twix before races? Am I really to believe Jennifer Jason Leigh drinks Jameson so much that her friends call her Jennifer Jameson Leigh? No. Celebrity spokespeople naturally engender a bit of healthy suspicion.
But thanks to the WTA’s testing program, there is no doubt Maria Sharapova uses meldonium, after she announced she’d tested positive for the substance at the Australian Open.
Now, everyone in Russia wants to get their hands on it. It’s legal there, and sales of the drug this month will double what the company did in February, say the manufacturer, Grindeks.
As for what the drug does, it sounds sort of HGH-ish in effect.
“When using Grindeks’s mildronate, one can feel a toning effect, one’s memory improves, thinking becomes faster, your movements become more dexterous, and your body becomes more able to defend itself against adverse conditions.”
That’s the description of the drug, according to Grindeks. Sound great, even if it sounds completely made up, as well.
The pills cost $4 for a 40-pack of them, according to The Washington Post, so, again, that makes me think it can’t do all that much.
The length of Sharapova’s suspension has yet to be announced.
[Via The Washington Post]