Ortho Clinical Diagnostics, Raritan, NJ, in collaboration with Thermo Fisher Scientific, Waltham, Mass, has expanded the menus on MicroTip-capable Vitros systems to enable testing for fentanyl, a commonly abused opioid, and tricyclic antidepressant (TCA), which has a narrow safe therapeutic range.

The Thermo Scientific DRI Fentanyl1 assay has a sensitivity of 100% and crossreacts with various analogs of fentanyl. Fentanyl is a synthetic opiate analgesic prescribed for chronic pain management and is a potentially deadly drug when abused because it is 50 to 100 times stronger than morphine. The US Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) has called fentanyl “the most prevalent and the most significant synthetic opioid threat to the United States.” Between 2014 and 2015, DEA’s national forensic laboratory information system reported a greater than 300% increase in fentanyl encounters. The assay also addresses a public need in Canada, where opioid poisoning hospitalization rates have increased 27% over the past 5 years.

The Thermo Scientific DRI Tricyclics Serum Tox assay can help clinicians detect the use of tricyclic antidepressants in potential overdose victims. Used properly, TCAs can be prescribed for bipolar disorder, chronic pain, depression, and insomnia, but a TCA overdose can result in loss of consciousness, coma, convulsions, hypotension, pulmonary complications or sudden death.

“Collaborations in our MicroTip Partnership assay program help expand our reach in delivering innovative, important new assays to our customers to help them drive value in their lab,” says Piper Antimarino, head of the clinical laboratory product portfolio at Ortho Clinical Diagnostics. “This collaboration with Thermo Fisher Scientific on the DRI Fentanyl1 assay will help authorities address a major societal problem; and the DRI Tricyclics Serum Tox assay helps advance the safe use of a therapeutic drug, which is consistent with Ortho’s commitment to reliability and safety.”

The DRI Fentanyl assay is available in the United States for criminal justice and forensic use only. The product is not intended for clinical diagnosis of disease or other conditions, including a determination of the state of health, in order to cure, mitigate, treat, or prevent disease or its sequelae or patient management. The DRI Tricyclic Serum Tox assay is 510(k) cleared in the United States.

For further information, visit Ortho Clinical Diagnostics.