last updated on June 30, 2010 15:14

Athletes receiving repeat prescriptions from their pharmacy are being warned to check the drugs they receive against their original prescription incase the medications have been substituted. 

UK Anti-Doping reports that prescribing practices may be changing in some regions. This could result in athletes being offered a different type of medication in their repeat prescription. We would like to remind athletes to check all medication carefully including repeat prescriptions, to ensure that they don't contain prohibited substances. Medications can be checked on Global DRO – www.globaldro.com.

Asthma inhalers are a prime example of this; in some circumstances the inhaler prescribed has changed from one that contains Salmeterol (Seretide) to one that contains Formoterol (Fostair) for both single and combination asthma inhalers. In this case, inhalers containing Formoterol would require a Therapeutic Use Exemption (TUE) application, whereas Salbutamol inhalers require a Declaration of Use.