While it’s still uncertain what the outcome of Maria Sharapova’s meldonium doping case will be, the news is that WADA is not sure how much time it takes for the substance to clear from the human body, therefore there may be grounds for no fault on the part of the suspended athletes, while Russian President Vladimir Putin says that meldonium "was never considered a doping".
Meldonium was added to the list of banned substances on January 1st, but in a recent statement WADA said that it is difficult to know whether an athlete may have taken the substance before or after the date, given lack of scientific information on excretion times.