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Detecting Cocaine and Opiates in Urine: Comparing Three Commercial Assays

NCJ Number
179807
Journal
Journal of Psychoactive Drugs Volume: 31 Issue: 3 Dated: July-September 1999 Pages: 305-313
Author(s)
Robert F. Schilling Ph.D.; Balmatee Bidassie M.A.; Nabila El-Bassel DSW
Date Published
September 1999
Length
9 pages
Annotation
Urine screening is a potentially useful tool for detecting drugs of abuse in treatment, criminal justice, and other human service settings; this article examines the relative accuracy and other features of three drug screening assays sold by commercial laboratories: Abbott Diagnostics ADx machine and reagents, ONTRAK manufactured by Roche Diagnostics, and EZ-Screen manufactured by Environmental Diagnostics.
Abstract
A total of 345 urine samples were obtained from indigent men and women participating in a work and life skills preparation program, a component of a New York City soup kitchen. Each urine sample was tested for cocaine and opiates to evaluate the accuracy of the three commercial assays. Although all three assays were reasonably accurate, the ADx fluorescent immunoassay was found to be the most sensitive and specific screening method, and comparisons with two visually determined test kits supported this finding. Of the two visual test kits, ONTRAK was the more specific assay and was lower in cost and simplest to perform. The authors conclude the methods used to evaluate the three assays can be effectively used in other settings to select drug testing materials. 17 references, 5 notes, 5 tables, and 1 figure

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