The anti-doping watchdog is to review its failure to warn officials about a British doctor who allegedly provided banned drugs to around 150 elite sportspeople, despite being alerted to the case two years ago.
UK Anti-Doping (UKAD) said it would launch an independent investigation after the culture secretary, John Whittingdale, ordered immediate action in the wake of allegations that Mark Bonar prescribed performance-enhancing drugs to Premier League footballers, England cricketers and Tour de France cyclists, among others.
Pressure has continued to mount on UKAD’s chief executive, Nicole Sapstead, after the Sunday Times (paywall) reported that Bonar, a doctor at a private London clinic, said he had prescribed erythropoietin (EPO), steroids and human growth hormone for top British athletes.
The paper reported that his conduct had been flagged to UKAD in 2014, prompting Whittingdale to call for an inquiry into what happened when the allegations were received and “what more needs to be done to ensure that British sport remains clean”.
David Kenworthy, the former chief constable of North Yorkshire police who chairs UKAD’s board, said it viewed the Sunday Times allegations “as being of concern and meriting closer examination”.
The independent reviewer would look into how the information provided by the unnamed athlete in 2014 was dealt with, and if proper procedures were followed, Kenworthy said.
“They will also be asked to make any recommendations to improve the way in which intelligence is dealt with in the future so that UKAD can be as effective as possible in keeping sport clean,” he said.
Bonar was recorded telling an elite runner sent covertly by the Sunday Times that he had provided banned performance-enhancing drugs to “lots of professional athletes”. He later wrote the runner prescriptions for growth hormone and steroids.
He named Arsenal, Chelsea, Leicester City and Birmingham City as among football clubs whose players he has treated. All four clubs rejected this, describing the claims as utterly false and without evidence.
Bonar, 38, denied the allegations on Sunday in a series of messages posted on what appears to be his Twitter account. In one he wrote: “The [Sunday Times] allegations are false and very misleading. I have never had a relationship with any premier football club or player.”
He also denied prescribing hormone replacement therapy to sportsmen to enhance their performance, writing: “I have never prescribed Androgen therapy for the purpose of performance enhancement. I treat symptomatic men with low test levels.”
Bonar describes himself as “concierge doctor and managing director” of the Ultra-Wellness Clinic, which specialises in anti-ageing treatments and operates from a private medical practice, the Omniya clinic, in Knightsbridge, central London.
He told the Sunday Times his work did not breach General Medical Council (GMC) rules and that it was athletes’ responsibility to ensure they did not take banned drugs.
No licence to practice
Bonar is, however, currently without a GMC licence to practise pending a tribunal later this month over unconnected claims he failed to tell a patient her cancer was terminal so he could continue to sell her a regime of nutritional treatments. A statement from Omniya clinic said his professional services agreement with it terminated on Friday after it was revealed he does not have a licence to practise medicine in the UK.
Sapstead released a lengthy statement explaining why UKAD had taken no action against Bonar when concerns were first raised. It began an investigation after the unnamed sportsman told the organisation about his worries about Bonar during interviews in April and May 2014, she said.
She explained, however, that UKAD only has powers to investigate doctors governed by a sport, plus there was no corroboration of the claims, so the sportsman was encouraged to seek more evidence and go instead to the GMC.
When the sportsman provided UKAD investigators with handwritten prescriptions in October 2014, Sapstead added, the organisation felt there were no grounds to refer the case to the GMC.
Praising the Sunday Times investigation, she stressed her organisation’s limited powers: “Under current legislation UKAD only has the power only to investigate athletes and entourage, including medics, who are themselves governed by a sport.”
The GMC said it too would look into Bonar’s alleged actions “as a matter of urgency”. Its chief executive, Niall Dickson, said: “Dr Bonar does not currently hold a licence and is therefore unable to practise medicine in the UK. Any doctor without a licence who continues to carry out the privileged duties of a doctor is committing a serious breach of our guidance, and potentially a criminal offence.”
Bonar has been registered with the GMC without a licence to practise since June last year, meaning he is banned from medical work such as writing prescriptions. Conditions attached to this prohibit him from offering a treatment called total parenteral nutrition, or TPN, outside a hospital. This relates to the medical practitioners tribunal hearing Bonar faces later this month over the allegations concerning the cancer patient’s treatment.
An initial hearing late last year was told Bonar continued to charge the woman for the “unconventional” treatment even when nurses told him she needed palliative care. “Your opinions are valueless because you are just nurses and I am a doctor,” Bonar allegedly told them.
There is no suggestion that any Premier League clubs were aware of any alleged wrongdoing, and the Sunday Times said it had no independent evidence that the players were treated.
