LAB SEEKS APPROVAL FOR DRUG DETECTION PATCH

                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: TUESDAY, January 5, 1993                   TAG: 9301050169
SECTION: EXTRA                    PAGE: 3   EDITION: METRO   
SOURCE: Knight-Ridder/Tribune
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium
LAB SEEKS APPROVAL FOR DRUG DETECTION PATCH
One of the nation's largest independent drug-testing labs is awaiting federal approval for a "drug detection patch" that would reveal whether a person is using cocaine by collecting sweat from the skin.
Pharmchem Laboratories of Menlo Park, Calif., said Wednesday that the developer of the technique, Sudormed Inc., of Santa Ana, Calif., has asked the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for permission to begin selling the patch. Under an agreement signed earlier this year, Pharmchem would act as the medical device company's sole distributor.
So far, the request is limited to cocaine testing. But Pharmchem said it also plans to ask the FDA to approve patch-based tests for other drugs, including marijuana, methamphetamine, PCP, opiates and alcohol. The company said it expects the FDA to act on its application sometime in 1993.
Worn on the upper arm, the Band-Aid-style patch works by absorbing perspiration, which is later analyzed for traces of the substances themselves or the metabolic chemicals they produce. The patch can remain in place for as long as a month and would detect any drug use by the wearer during the entire period. It also would show damage if the wearer tried to tamper with or remove it.
Jay Whiteny, Pharmchem's president and chief executive, said the lab plans to market the patch to criminal justice agencies and drug treatment programs for use in monitoring paroled criminals and other people who are required to stay chemical-free.
But he said the patch also could be used by private companies to detect illegal drug and alcohol use by employees or screen job applicants. Pharmchem already performs conventional drug tests for several large corporations, including AT&T, 3M and the Marriott hotel chain.
"There are certainly valid reasons for businesses to have the right to demand that people not bring illegal drugs into the workplace, even if they are brought in in their bodies," Whitney said.
Matt Coles, a staff attorney for the American Civil Liberties Union in San Francisco, said introducing the patch to monitor employee behavior would raise the same privacy concerns as more conventional blood- and urine-based drug tests, albeit "in a particularly vivid way."
"The problem with a technology like this is it's not focused on a person's ability to do the job," Coles said. "Any detection system that would demonstrate whether they are using alcohol or any other drug while off from work is an invasion of their privacy."

by Bhavesh Jinadra by CNB