Saliva Test Detects 10 Substances

A new saliva-based, automated test system called Impact detects drugs and alcohol noninvasively and provides results in only five minutes.

The Impact system can simultaneously test a saliva sample for marijuana, cocaine, opiates, angel dust, amphetamines/methamphetamines, and alcohol, and produce blood-equivalent, lab-quality results in five minutes. The fully automated testing system is easy to use and can be administered by nontechnical personnel, says the developer, LifePoint, Inc. (Ontario, CA, USA). Initially, the system will be aimed at the law enforcement market and then the industrial workplace market. Other applications include hospital emergency rooms and consumer at-home use.

The new system is based on two proprietary technologies. The first is flow immunosensor technology, a kinetic-based immunoassay that provides for increased speed and/or sensitivity over current methods. The second proprietary technology is for the collection and processing of saliva via aspiration. The use of aspiration provides rapid collection, multiple tests from a single specimen, and quantitative results.

"The technology behind this diagnostic tool is revolutionary and will be a boon to the law enforcement officer and traffic safety communities,” stated Jack Lawn, former head of the US Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA). "A major problem with existing on-site tests is that drugs and alcohol are equally implicated in cases of DWI (driving while intoxicated), and current methods do not determine immediate blood levels of illicit drugs.”




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