Novel Drug Testing Technology Featured at AACC 2015

The 2015 AACC Meeting & Clinical Lab Expo (July 26-30; Atlanta, GA, USA) featured new science and novel technology in all areas of clinical diagnostics. Market researcher Kalorama Information (New York City, NY, USA) attends the AACC meeting annually and notes developments for its reports on the in vitro diagnostic (IVD) market. Here, Kalorama notes the presentation of a unique approach to drugs-of-abuse testing via a new technology for urine-based drug testing.

“UR Code” by Marker Test Diagnostics, Inc. (Scottsdale AZ, USA) was designed to eliminate false-negative results that occur upon manipulation and observed-collection of samples, while providing an accurate and secure solution. It addresses sample integrity, one of the main issues in drug testing, as even under observation, sample adulteration or substitution is very common. UR Code is an orally taken marker that internally "bar-codes" a subject's urine. As observed-collections are invasive, inefficient, expensive, and require extensive organizational effort, UR Code aims to make sample substitution impossible while eliminating the need to supervise urine collection.

UR Code is a soft-gel capsule that provides a marker to code a person's urine. This code can only be detected through liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS). Neither the person providing the sample nor the soft-gel provider can predict which UR Code combination is given. The soft-gel capsule contains polyethylene glycol, a substance on the Food and Drug Administration's (FDA) list of inactive ingredients, cleared for humans and without side effects. Polyethylene glycols are not naturally found in urine and they have different molecular weights that enable the creation of 1,000 different marker types.

The test-subject takes the UR Code capsule under supervision. UR Code is absorbed, not metabolized, and quickly cleared through the kidneys. Thirty minutes later, urine can be collected without supervision. The laboratory then tests, using LC-MS/MS, whether the sample contains the correct code combination.

Kalorama’s latest comprehensive IVD market report—The Worldwide Market for In Vitro Diagnostic (IVD) Tests, 9th Edition—covers not only drugs-of-abuse testing and urinalysis but all major segments of clinical lab testing. The information presented in this report is derived on publicly available information sources. The analysis is based on the author's IVD industry knowledge combined with literature searches and interviews with industry professionals and experts. Hundreds of companies were tracked. This research is compiled along with the input of industry experts to produce an unparalleled vision of the IVD industry. The report includes market estimates and forecasts to 2018.

Related Links:
Kalorama Information
The Worldwide Market for In Vitro Diagnostic (IVD) Tests, 9th Edition 
2015 AACC Annual Meeting & Clinical Lab Expo