Universal Sensors has announced that it has shown that its Vantix biosensor technology can detect trace quantities of both cocaine and cannabis in saliva within minutes.
Dr Peter Swarbrick, who researched the Vantix sensor with Dr Olga Leonardova, said: 'A major hurdle in the development of a test is that saliva is a very difficult sample to analyse.
'It contains proteins, fats, sugars and mucus - as well as interfering residues from tobacco, coffee, tea and prescribed medicines - all of which can reduce the sensitivity and specificity of a test.
'The technology can detect as little a 1ng/ml of Benzoylecgonine [cocaine metabolite] and 5ng/ml of tetrahydrocannabinol [main psychoactive substance in cannabis].
'Both of these were achieved without having to clean or pre-treat the saliva sample,' he added.
Universal Sensors said it has demonstrated the effectiveness of its technology in tests for the priority targets cocaine and cannabis and that it is confident it will be equally robust in tests for other drugs.
