Specified Substance
Definition
A Prohibited List category for substances more plausibly taken for a non-doping reason, which allows more flexibility in sanctioning. The peptide hormones in S2 are not specified, so the default first-violation sanction is the more severe one.
What this means for research sourcing
Anti-doping classification is independent of regulatory approval and of research supply: a compound can be unapproved everywhere and still be prohibited in sport. Volta sells for laboratory research use only and makes no representation about competitive eligibility.
Related Terms in Anti-Doping
Therapeutic Use Exemption (TUE)
Advance permission for an athlete to use a prohibited substance for a documented medical condition, granted against published criteria. It normally has to be in place before use rather than claimed after a positive test.
WADA (World Anti-Doping Agency)
The body that publishes the World Anti-Doping Code and the annual Prohibited List adopted by Olympic sport and most national anti-doping organisations. Its rules run independently of whether a substance is an approved medicine anywhere.
Prohibited List
WADA's list of substances and methods banned in sport, revised every year and organised into numbered classes. Some classes are prohibited at all times, others only in competition.
S0 (Non-Approved Substances)
The Prohibited List class covering any pharmacological substance not currently approved by any governmental health authority for human therapeutic use. It is a catch-all, and it captures most purely experimental research peptides by default.
S2 (Peptide Hormones and Growth Factors)
The Prohibited List class covering peptide hormones, growth factors, related substances and mimetics, including growth hormone, its releasing factors and secretagogues, IGF-1 and its analogues, and erythropoietin-receptor agonists. Prohibited at all times.
S4 (Hormone and Metabolic Modulators)
The Prohibited List class covering hormone and metabolic modulators, which includes myostatin-pathway inhibitors and metabolic modulators such as AMPK activators and PPAR-delta agonists. Prohibited at all times.
In-Competition and Out-of-Competition Testing
Samples collected in the window around a competition, as against at any other time and usually unannounced. The distinction decides which classes of the Prohibited List apply to a given sample.
Adverse Analytical Finding
The formal term for a laboratory report identifying a prohibited substance or its markers in a sample. It opens a results-management process and is not by itself a finding that a rule was broken.