WALTHAM, Mass., July 19, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Alere Inc. (NYSE:
ALR), a global leader in rapid diagnostics, today announced the
availability of its point-of-care Alere iCup® Rx Drug
Screen, a rapid urine test that detects five of the most commonly
misused and abused prescription drugs. The test enables physicians
and addiction specialists to screen patients for benzodiazepines,
buprenorphine, methadone, opiates and oxycodone in a clinically
actionable timeframe – facilitating early detection of abuse and
ensuring patient compliance with legitimately prescribed
therapies.
The Alere iCup Rx was developed in response to the rapid and
alarming rise in abuse of prescription therapies (such as
Vicodin® and OxyContin®) that treat pain and
addiction. Unlike other drug tests that combine illicit and
prescription drug detection, the Alere iCup Rx is the first rapid
urine test that tests and validates five of the most clinically
relevant prescription drugs at one time – streamlining testing and
monitoring of patients in medical and addiction management
settings.
"Frequent in-office monitoring is an essential strategy to
address opioid abuse, a threat which has become a menacing
epidemic," said Robert L. DuPont,
M.D., Clinical Professor of Psychiatry at the Georgetown University School of Medicine and first
Director of the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA). "An
easy-to-use test that provides actionable results during a patient
visit is a valuable first-line tool to detect potential opioid
abuse and, when it occurs, to get these patients the specific
addiction treatment they need."
Point-of-Care Monitoring: A Key Strategy in Addressing
Prescription Drug Abuse
Abuse of prescription analgesics and
other drugs has grown so significantly that the Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention (CDC) has officially declared it an
epidemic.[1] As of 2012, there were almost 17,000
fatal overdoses of prescription opioid analgesics a year in
the United States,[2]
and opioid-related deaths now exceed deaths involving heroin and
cocaine combined.[3] Over time, prescription opioid
abuse may lead to the use of heroin, which can be easier to obtain.
In many cases, misuse and abuse begins when patients are
legitimately prescribed opioids for severe acute or chronic pain.
It is essential, therefore, that physicians and addiction treatment
professionals conduct regular in-office drug testing to assess
outcomes, identify relapses, and adjust therapies in real time.
"Arming clinicians with a rapid test that screens only the most
relevant prescription drugs not only helps determine whether
patients are misusing a drug that was not prescribed, but also
helps ensure adherence to legitimately prescribed therapies," said
David Green, Ph.D., RP and
Laboratory Director, Alere. "The Alere iCup Rx addresses an
important unmet market need for real-time testing of these drugs
that are essential to effective pain and addiction management but
frequently abused."
About the Alere iCup Rx
The Alere iCup Rx is a
510(k)-cleared and CLIA-waived, lateral flow chromatographic
immunoassay for the qualitative detection of benzodiazepines,
buprenorphine, methadone, opiates and oxycodone in urine. The Alere
iCup Rx features a self-contained collection cup plus test device,
and provides auto-activated results in 5 minutes with no tipping of
the cup. The Alere iCup Rx also features a specimen validity test
(SVT) to help monitor specimen tampering and adulteration, with a
lower opiate cutoff level (300 ng/mL) than most other urine drug
assays. The drug assays provide only preliminary analytical test
results, which must be confirmed with more specific chemical
methods, such as gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) or
liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS). Alere
laboratories provide laboratory confirmation services with a high
standard of compliance, superior analytical methods and
state-of-the technology.
About Alere
Alere believes that when diagnosing and
monitoring health conditions, Knowing now matters.™ Alere
delivers on this vision by providing reliable and actionable
information through rapid diagnostic tests, enhancing clinical and
economic health outcomes globally. Headquartered in Waltham, Mass., Alere focuses on rapid
diagnostics for infectious disease, cardiometabolic disease and
toxicology. For more information on Alere, please visit
www.alere.com.
[1] Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
Glossary. The CDC defines "epidemic" as "[t]he occurrence of more
cases of disease than expected in a given area or among a specific
group of people over a particular period of time." Available at
https://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/terms/glossary.html.
[2] CDC, National Center for Health Statistics. CDC
WONDER Online Database, 2012. Beletsky LB, Rich JD, Walley AY.
Prevention of fatal opioid overdose. JAMA. 2013;308(180):
1863–1864
[3] CDC. Vital Signs:
Overdoses of Prescription Opioid Pain Relievers --- United States, 1999—2008. MMWR. 2011;
60(43):1487-1492. Available at
https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/mm6043a4.htm.
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SOURCE Alere Inc.