Peptidic drugs and drug candidates in sports drug testing: agents affecting mitochondrial biogenesis or preventing activin receptor II activation

With the continuously improving technical options for producing peptidic drugs, therapeutic strategies currently and/or prospectively using peptide- and protein-derived drugs have constantly received constantly growing attention. Besides obvious clinical relevance, pharmacological interventions that possess the potential to enhance either mitochondrial biogenesis or muscle size and function represent important aspects also for international sports drug testing programs as misuse of such drugs and drug candidates necessitates consideration and control. In this brief review, the mechanisms of action and (future) testing strategies for recent additions to the spectrum of target analytes in routine sports drug testing programs are summarized, focusing particularly on the mitochondrial-derived peptide mitochondrial open reading frame of the 12S rRNA-c, synthetic adiponectin receptor agonists (e.g. ADP355, ADP399), glucagon-like peptide 1 receptor agonists (e.g. lixisenatide), and agents counteracting activin receptor II activation such as bimagrumab and sotatercept.