Concateno Announces Global Preview for New Portable Drug Testing System

Concateno has unveiled its next generation handheld drugs of abuse detection device at a Global Preview at MEDICA 2010. Available to end customers in 2011, upon completion of performance evaluation studies and regulatory clearances, the fully portable system will supersede Concateno’s existing Cozart® DDS® device. The initial launch panel will test for up to six different drug groups, from a single oral fluid (saliva) sample, in a matter of minutes.

The preview comes as UK officials continue to focus on drug driving, in line with the Government’s stated commitment to “switch to more effective ways of making our roads safer, including authorising ‘drugalyser’ technology.”

With widespread applications across the healthcare and criminal justice sectors, the new device incorporates a number of additional features and benefits, including a new ergonomic design with full colour display screen, faster collection times, and improved sensitivity for THC, allowing lower levels to be detected. Drugs of abuse will be identifiable within 90 seconds for some tests such as opiates and cocaine, or MDMA and THC, and within a few minutes for broader, more sensitive tests that capture a wider range of misused substances. The system also comes with improved software capabilities, allowing users to easily download test results and compile management reports, making data management easier.

Concateno chairman and chief executive officer Peter Welch said: “The new system will offer significant operational benefits to healthcare and police professionals; perhaps the most important being the ability to speed up the point of care testing process. The need for speed, multi-analytical testing, plus robustness and reliability of method are all central to effective testing. Use of Concateno’s new system will bring significant advantages to our customers working in drug advisory teams, hospitals, clinics, drug treatment and probationary services.”

In industry sectors, such as employee services and criminal justice, the Cozart® DDS® device, which the new system will supersede, is already deployed internationally to help speed up sample analysis at point of care. As well as being used to implement significant UK government initiatives such as the Home Office’s Drugs Intervention Programme, several countries – including Australia, Italy, Spain and Croatia – have adopted Concateno’s mobile drug testing devices to help combat drug driving.

Concateno’s products have heralded a major advance for countries with zero tolerance for motorists who drive with illicit drugs in their system. Traffic police in Australia, for example, have seen a dramatic drop in the number of drug driving convictions since roadside drug testing was introduced in the State of Victoria in 2004. In Victoria, incidences of drivers detected with illicit drugs present has halved over a five-year period, from one driver in 44 to one driver in 94, and a reduction
in the involvement of illicit drug in road trauma has occurred. Since its introduction in Victoria, roadside drug testing has been implemented across Australia.

Concateno’s Karon Hawthorne, marketing manager, new product development, said: “When launched, Concateno’s new system will contain the most advanced technology available on the market and we are confident that with its fast collection speeds and ability to detect a wide range of substances, improved sensitivity for cannabis, it will meet any criteria that may be required.