Pharmacia launches new blood alcohol test:
This article was originally published in Clinica
Executive Summary
Pharmacia (Sweden) has launched its radio-immunoassay CDTect for the detection and measurement of alcohol in blood. The product is on sale in Germany, France and Scandinavia. Testing for biochemical markers enables more sophisticated analysis of alcohol use and dependency than conventional breath tests, says Dr Rolf Iffland in Arzte Zeitung. However, forensic medicine relies solely on traditional methods for diagnosis. Dr Iffland argues that traditional breath tests do not detect many drivers who are shown to be over the limit of alcohol consumption using CDTect. The product is also capable of differentiating between those who have consumed large quantities of alcohol on single occasions and those who habitually drink heavily.