The registry of the Civil Guard in the office of Dr. Marcos Maynar at the University of Extremadura led to the discovery of an old acquaintance in the underworld of doping. As ABC has learned, it is Actovegin, the ‘EPO of the poor’, a product made with calf plasma that increases energy production through glucose and that has been in circulation on the black market for more than two decades. In Spain its commercialization is illegal, in France it is a crime to only introduce it into the country, partly due to the risk of its secondary effects. Maynar stated upon being released with charges that the UCO had not discovered any drugs in its raid last Wednesday.
News about Actovegin was first heard about through cycling, it embarked on a public level in other sports such as athletics and ended up in unsuspected specialties, such as golf.
The drug was associated in some way with the successes of Lance Armstrong since the French police rummaged through the waste of the US Postal team in the hotels he was occupying on the Tour. In 2000, the gendarmes found 160 syringes, blood bags and a new product in the garbage, which caused attention because of its origin, Actovegin.
The drug in question is a calf blood extract that has properties similar to EPO, oxygenates the muscles and does not raise the hematocrit (the thickness of the blood). It increases the yield and, at that time, it was not positive in the controls.
He spoke of Actovegin Jesús Manzano, the cyclist who opened the doping box in Spain, the substance appeared at the house of the marcher Paquillo Fernández, it was one of the star drugs in the Operation Puerto trial and it was known that the physiotherapist used it by Tiger Woods. The commercialization of this calf plasma is illegal in Spain and its distribution can be punished as a crime with three years in prison. In Maynar’s possession, the sources consulted by ABC suspect that he bought the unauthorized substance outside of Spain and traded with it on national territory. It is not on the list of products prohibited by the World Anti-Doping Agency, although it is intravenously.
Maynar is not the only detainee. He was also arrested a young professional in the registry of the Civil Guard in Plasencia. Linked to the ongoing operation, it remains to establish the type of connection he had with Dr. Marcos Maynar, whose phones and computers have been seized and are now being analyzed.
The documentation is currently being investigated to determine whether or not there are high-level athletes in the budding plot. The University of Extremadura has taken a step forward in trying to collaborate with the authorities and be much more proactive in clarifying the adventures of Dr. Maynar.
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