Article: Bromontan, a new doping agent

Bromontan, a new doping agent

During the 1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta, USA, a doping substance little known in the West, bromontan, made its appearance. Five athletes (four Russians and one Lithuanian) who tested positive were disqualified by the International Olympic Committee. This decision was appealed to the athletics arbitration tribunal which cancelled the disqualifications. Since then, the product has been added to the list of doping agents. During the ski championships at Trondheim, Norway in February, 1997, a Russian athlete was disqualified because his urine tested positive. The drug is prescribed for Russian cosmonauts as an immune stimulant. Its probable use by Russian soldiers in Afghanistan, and more recently Chechnya, is related to its psychostimulating effect.

Bromontan is 2-bromophenyl-1-amino adamantane. The drug belongs to the group of adamantanes, such as amantadine, memantine, and molecules known only in Russia (kemantane, adopronin, gludantane, midantane). 10 min after oral administration of bromontan to rats, the distribution coefficient between the brain and blood is 2·29, showing that the molecule easily passes through the blood-brain barrier. Maxim…