Randox develops drugs-of-abuse testing procedure

Randox has developed a multi-marker drugs-of-abuse (DoA) testing procedure for rapid drug screening programmes.

The DoA biochips permit the analysis of up to 10 drug classes from a single patient sample, providing rapid and accurate testing.

The company's biochip array technology is based on tried-and-tested Elisa methods.

Each 9 x 9mm biochip comprises up to 25 discrete test regions on which immobilised antibodies specific to each biomarker are contained.

Two DTRs are reserved for quality-control testing.

The DoA biochip arrays demonstrate good assay performance and correlation with GC/MS, according to Randox.

Two DoA biochip arrays are available: DoA array I contains amphetamine, methamphetamine, barbiturates, benzodiazepine 1 and 2, Cannabinoids, cocaine metabolite, methadone, opiates and phencyclidine; while DoA array II enables testing for buprenorphine, fentanyl, generic opioids, ketamine, LSD, MDMA, methaqualone, oxycodone 1 and 2 and propoxyphene.

As a further feature, creatinine is included on the arrays as a marker of adulteration when testing urine samples.

Both biochip arrays are validated for use with urine and whole blood.

The use of oral fluid as a sample matrix is validated on DoA array I and is currently in development for DoA array II.

Three biochip analysers have been developed and can be employed for the DoA arrays.

The fully automated Evidence was designed for high-throughput laboratories and requires as little as 7ul of urine for all 10 drug classes.

This rapid testing platform generates 1,088 tests per hour.

Once samples are loaded onto the Evidence, the doors are locked and the PC interface is password protected, providing chain-of-custody information.

The semi-automated Evidence Investigator for medium-sized laboratories and the point-of-application Evidence Multistat analyser, which generates results in 20 minutes, are also available.

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