Actovegin Equals to Performance Enhancing Drug Doping: Fact or Fiction?

Actovegin is a biological drug that has been used for the treatment of sports muscle injuries. Several in vitro studies have shed light on potential mechanisms of action and the drug has consistently demonstrated its potential to reduce return to injury time for muscle tears in elite athletes. Yet it was banned for a time under the International Olympic Committee (IOC) as a blood doping agent, this ban was based on presumptuous conclusions and subsequently lifted after no indisputable evidence could be provided. This editorial hopes to provide readers with some of the key, objective facts relating to Actovegin and then based on this, will offer an opinion on its role in sports medicine. We also hope to highlight the importance of evidencebased medicine, particularly in the volatile field of Sports Medicine, and the need for facts, not fiction.