Reference standards improve drug abuse tests

Unilabs AB in Eskilstuna, Sweden, is taking advantage of LGC Standards’ LoGiCal reference materials to perform clinical analyses of drug abuse.

Chemist Elin Widing explained: “Unilabs is a privately owned clinical laboratory that analyses company healthcare and workplace samples, as well as samples from drug abuse centres.

“Samples are received from across Sweden and screened either qualitatively or semi-quantitatively using immunological assays, followed by quantitative LC-MSMS or GC-MS analysis for verification. Ready-to-use LoGiCal solutions are ideal for our purposes; it is so much simpler than weighing powders for in­house preparation of reference materials.”

The group evaluated LoGiCal solutions of tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), zopiclone and alpha­hydroxyalprazolam, including deuterium-labelled alpha-hydroxyalprazolam as an internal standard for quantitative mass spectrometry analysis.

“Analyses were run in parallel with assays that were using our existing reference materials, and the results were comparable,” said Widing. “Since the initial product evaluation, we have also ordered tramadol and its metabolites for our laboratory.”