New Forensic Toxicology Application from Applied Biosystems/MDS SCIEX Improves Accuracy of Screening for Drugs of Abuse
FOSTER CITY, Calif.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Applied Biosystems (NYSE: ABI), an Applera Corporation business, and its joint venture partner, Sciex, a division of MDS Inc.’s Analytical Technologies business, (NYSE: MDZ, TSX: MDS), today introduced a new, automated toxicology testing application designed to better identify drugs of abuse, such as cocaine, heroin and date rape drugs for forensic investigations.
The new Cliquid™ Drug Screen and Quant Software for Routine Forensic Toxicology application equips toxicology laboratories for the first time with a built-in library of 1,200 compounds and a search reporting function designed to screen hundreds of drugs in less than 20 minutes. This software application is an advancement over existing toxicology testing methods. It enables faster delivery of results, more thorough screening and, ultimately, more accurate analysis to be used as evidence in criminal court cases.
Toxicology laboratories are relied upon for the testing of narcotics and other substances in a variety of cases such as impaired driving, homicides and sexual assaults. For example, if a person dies in a car accident, investigators turn to toxicology laboratories to ascertain whether or not the driver was impaired. In sexual assault cases, toxicology testing can help investigators determine if the victim was unknowingly drugged to facilitate the crime.
Identifying an expanding array of ‘street’ drugs has created new challenges for toxicologists, necessitating widespread re-evaluations of testing and analysis techniques to help prevent emerging derivatives of substances from slipping through the process undetected.
Scientists at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) are among the toxicology scientists at laboratories around the world who are increasingly expected to deliver accurate results in detecting a broader range of drugs of abuse. Toxicology laboratory personnel at UCSF have evaluated this new Cliquid software application.
“The accuracy of the test results is critical in toxicology analysis and interpretation,” said Dr. Alan Wu, chief of the chemistry and toxicology laboratories at San Francisco General Hospital, and professor of laboratory medicine at the University of California, San Francisco. “The new Cliquid software application for drug screening promises to make interpretation of toxicology results more efficient.”
Cliquid Drug Screen and Quant Software for Routine Forensic Toxicology is the first dedicated application that utilizes liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (LC/MS/MS), an advanced analytical technique for screening compounds. The high degree of sensitivity, minimum sample preparation and short run times of this technique result in being able to analyze more sample per unit time at a lower cost than other techniques, such as LC or gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC/MS). Traditional toxicology testing technology, which uses UV-based liquid chromatography, has been limited to detecting high concentrations of a narrow range of drugs because of the limited sensitivity of that technology.
The Cliquid software application reduces the complexity for routine testing to support greater confidence and throughput. The 1,200 compounds in the application’s built-in library consist of drugs of abuse, pharmaceuticals, poisons and metabolites to provide a complete analysis of what may have been ingested. The automatic LC/MS/MS-based library then simply searches for each of those substances through a simple, turnkey workflow.
“Results obtained from a toxicology laboratory can make or break an entire forensic investigation,” said Laura Lauman, president for Applied Biosystems’ proteomics and small molecules division. “Applied Biosystems/MDS SCIEX is responding to our customers’ requests for advanced tools that eliminate the complexity and limitations of traditional techniques and more quickly deliver irrefutable results.”
The Applied Biosystems/MDS SCIEX Instruments joint venture has a 20-year history of innovation and a broad portfolio of mass spectrometry-based technologies and systems that enable advancements in research laboratories in biotechnology, biomedical and pharmaceutical fields. Applied Biosystems Global Services offers professional consulting services specifically designed to help toxicology laboratories maximize their investments in new systems and software.
“The innovative Cliquid software application has the potential to have a significant impact on the rapidly evolving field of toxicology,” said Andy Boorn, president for MDS Analytical Technologies. “The incredible precision of our mass spectrometry technology can help toxicologists meet the challenges they face today in their analysis for forensic cases.”
For more information about Cliquid Drug Screen and Quant Software for Routine Forensic Toxicology, please visit info.appliedbiosystems.com/cliquiddrug
About Applera Corporation and Applied Biosystems
Applera Corporation consists of two operating groups. The Applied Biosystems Group serves the life science industry and research community by developing and marketing instrument-based systems, consumables, software, and services. Its customers use these tools to analyze nucleic acids (DNA and RNA), small molecules, and proteins to make scientific discoveries and develop new pharmaceuticals. The Applied Biosystems’ products also serve the needs of some markets outside of life science research, which we refer to as “applied markets.” These include the fields of human identity testing (forensic and paternity testing); biosecurity, which refers to products needed in response to the threat of biological terrorism and other malicious, accidental, and natural biological dangers; and quality and safety testing, such as testing required for food and pharmaceutical manufacturing. Applied Biosystems is headquartered in Foster City, CA, and reported sales of approximately $2.1 billion during fiscal 2007. The Celera Group is primarily a molecular diagnostics business that is using proprietary genomics and proteomics discovery platforms to identify and validate novel diagnostic markers, and is developing diagnostic products based on these markers as well as other known markers. Celera maintains a strategic alliance with Abbott for the development and commercialization of molecular, or nucleic acid-based, diagnostic products, and it is also developing new diagnostic products outside of this alliance. Through its genomics and proteomics research efforts, Celera is also discovering and validating therapeutic targets, and it is seeking strategic partnerships to develop therapeutic products based on these discovered targets. Information about Applera Corporation, including reports and other information filed by the company with the Securities and Exchange Commission, is available at www.applera.com, or by telephoning 800.762.6923. Information about Applied Biosystems is available at www.appliedbiosystems.com
About MDS Inc.
MDS Inc. (TSX: MDS; NYSE: MDZ) is a global life sciences company that provides market-leading products and services that our customers need for the development of drugs and diagnosis and treatment of disease. We are a leading global provider of pharmaceutical contract research, medical isotopes for molecular imaging, radiotherapeutics, and analytical instruments. MDS has more than 6,200 highly skilled people in 28 countries. Find out more at www.mdsinc.com or by calling 1-888-MDS-7222, 24 hours a day.
About Sciex
Sciex is a division of MDS Analytical Technologies. The Sciex product portfolio offers proven market leadership in mass spectrometry through its joint ventures with two of the world’s leading analytical instrumentation and life sciences companies, Applied Biosystems, a business of the Applera Corporation and PerkinElmer Inc. Find out more at www.mdssciex.com
©.Copyright 2007. Applera Corporation. All rights reserved. Applied Biosystems, AB (Design), Applera and Celera are registered trademarks of Applera Corporation or its subsidiaries in the US and/or certain other countries. Cliquid is a trademark of Applied Biosystems/MDS SCIEX, a joint venture between Applera Corporation and MDS Inc.
