Quality Clinical Analyzers for Drugs-of-Abuse Testing

According to a recent Markets and Markets research report, drug testing and screening has grown rapidly in recent years with the high rates of alcohol use, prescribed drugs and illicit drugs, growing aging population resulting in increased use of alcohol and prescription drug use, funding by the U.S. federal government for drug testing, enactment of stringent laws in developed countries, and growing awareness of drug testing in developing nations.

Drug testing is the evaluation of urine, blood or other type of biological sample to determine if the subject has been using the drug or drugs in question. There are many circumstances that may lead to drug testing such as medical screening, for legal purposes to detect illegal or banned drug use, pre-employment or random, work-related testing, and sports and athletes screening. Using high quality lab products including analyzers and ready-to-use assays for drugs of abuse is important for fast, accurate and consistent test results.

Top Clinical Analyzer Models for Drug Screening

Leading manufacturers such as Siemens Healthcare, Roche Diagnostics, Quest Diagnostics, Beckman Coulter, Medica, and Awareness Technology Inc offer products with advanced drug testing capabilities.

• Olympus AU 400 - This analyzer is ideal for small to medium size hospitals and laboratories for routine, STAT, urine and homogenous immunoassays. It features a 125 test menu including chemistry, urine chemistry, specific proteins, esoteric chemistries and tests for therapeutic drug monitoring, drugs-of-abuse, and more. With random access throughput of up to 400 photometric tests per hour (up to 800 with electrolytes), an on-board menu of over 40 tests and user-definable sample handling options, the AU400 delivers precise and quick results.
• UniCel DxC 800 - Manufactured by Beckman Coulter, UniCel DxC systems are built to deliver maximum productivity for your laboratory. The UniCel DxC 800 delivers the results for 90 comprehensive metabolic panels in just one hour (NA, K, Cl, CO2, CALC, GLUC, BUN, CRE, TP, ALB, ALP, AST, ALT and TBIL).
• Medica EasyRA - With 150 tests per hour (>300 with integrated ISE), 24 sample positions, 24 reagents on board, Medica’s EasyRA® is an ideal clinical chemistry analysis system. The device features an easy-to-use, intuitive user interface with limited user steps. Stat samples can be analyzed in less than 8 minutes. It comes with liquid, ready-to-use reagents with built-in RFID.
• ChemWell 2902 - This fully automated analyzer from Awareness Technology Inc can run general chemistries in standard microwells. This system can deliver up to 200 tests per hour. It can handle up to 27 reagents and 96 samples.

Testing for drugs and interpreting the results can be challenging. Symptoms associated with drug abuse and drug overdose vary from person to person and from time to time, and do not necessarily reveal drug concentrations in the body.

Block Scientific, a leading laboratory equipment supplier in New York, offers a range of new and used lab equipment from industry leading manufacturers.