Olympus has amended an agreement with the Clincal Diagnostics Group of Thermo Fisher Scientific to market a test parameter, Ethyl Glucuronide (EtG), used for monitoring alcohol-free regimes.
Marketed by Olympus as a Thermo Scientific-labelled product in European countries, the DRI EtG assay kit includes liquid, ready-to-use reagents with high analytical accuracy and is compatible with all Olympus AU clinical chemistry analysers.
Ethyl Glucuronide or EtG is a direct phase II metabolite of ethanol, usually only produced when alcohol has been consumed.
Unlike ethanol, EtG may last for up to five days in urine and confirms beyond all doubt that someone has consumed alcohol during that time.
Consequently, it is a suitable test for the detection of recent alcohol intake or for the monitoring of abstinence.
The EtG test (DRI Ethyl Glucuronide enzyme immunoassay [DRI EtG EIA]) is an enzyme immunoassay based on a new monoclonal antibody.
A recent evaluation study has demonstrated that the DRI EtG EIA used on an Olympus clinical chemistry analyser is 'a sensitive and specific method for quantification of EtG in urine samples, and also offers a low and clinically relevant measuring range'.
The study concludes that DRI EtG EIA may be applied for routine screening of recent alcohol exposure in both clinical and forensics settings.
