The DRI Hydrocodone Assay is a homogeneous enzyme immunoassay featuring requisite sensitivities that meet the newly proposed Substance Abuse and Mental Health Administration (SAMHSA) guidelines using a 300 ng/mL cut-off. SAMHSA oversees the testing of federally regulated employees and many organizations follow the guidelines set-forth by this agency.

The DRI Hydrocodone Assay has excellent cross-reactivity to the major metabolites hydromorphone and hydromorphone-glucuronide and utilizes liquid, ready-to-use reagents, which can be run in both qualitative and semi-quantitative modes. Calibrators and controls are sold separately. In addition, the assay demonstrates good correlation with LC-MS/MS and has excellent specificity and sensitivity, making it an easy-to-use screening tool for hydrocodone in urine samples with applications for a variety of clinical chemistry analyzers.

“Some of the traditional general opiate immunoassays used to screen for hydrocodone and its metabolites may have given inaccurate results when using the opiate calibrators and controls, per the intended use,” said Kim Mulcahy, product manager for drugs and abuse assays at Thermo Fisher Scientific. “As such, they did not have the sensitivities required to meet the proposed SAMHSA guidelines whereas as this new assay does.”

Hydrocodone, a semi-synthetic opioid, is an antitussive (cough suppressant) and narcotic analgesic agent for the treatment of moderate to severe pain. Hydrocodone is considered to be one of the most frequently prescribed and misused opiate drugs in the U.S. There are several hundred brand names and generic combinations of hydrocodone products available on the market today.

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