Researchers from the University of the Philippines-Manila have developed a point-of-care testing (POCT) device that could detect selected new psychoactive substances (NPS) or “designer drugs”.

The ETox-NPS uses urine samples that allow preliminary detection of NPS such as ketamine, synthetic cannabinoids, and synthetic cathinones.

The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) defines NPS or “designer drugs” as “substances of abuse, either in a pure form or a preparation, that are not controlled by the 1961 Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs or the 1971 Convention on Psychotropic Substances, which may pose a public health threat.”

The NPS available in the market have similar effects such as cannabis, cocaine, heroin, LSD, ecstasy, and methamphetamine which are substances under international control, the UNODC said.

“The ETox-NPS would be very useful because there is no POCT screening kit for NPS available for use in the Philippines. NPS is also not yet included in the drugs of abuse panel in the Philippines,” lead scientist and inventor Ailyn Yabes said. “Local screening tests are limited to traditional illicit drugs such as amphetamine and cannabinoids.”

Yabes, also an Associate Professor at the Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology at UP Manila, said the ETox-NPS screening test is an initial test checking the presence of NPS.

It would still require “a more specific and sensitive method” to confirm the presence of NPS in the urine.

Yabes also developed the ETox Phx POCT, a device that could detect non-accidental poisoning from selected pharmaceutical drugs, allowing for timely and more effective emergency care for the patient.

These pharmaceutical drugs include paracetamols, isoniazid, and salicylate (aspirin poisoning). (Philippine News Agency | Ma. Teresa Montemayor)