ELISA Detection of 30 New Amphetamine Designer Drugs in Whole Blood, Urine and Oral Fluid using Neogen®“Amphetamine” and “Methamphetamine/MDMA” Kits

Thirty new amphetamine designer drugs were tested for cross-reactivity with two commercial immunoassay kits (Neogen® Amphetamine Specific and Methamphetamine/MDMA assays) in whole blood, urine, and oral fluid. For most of the designer drugs, concentrations as high as 10,000 ng/mL failed to produce a positive response. This shows that while the kits work well for their target drugs—amphetamine, methamphetamine, and MDMA—they cannot reliably detect the tested designer drugs in real forensic cases because the required concentrations far exceed those typically found in biological samples.

Study at a glance

Abstract

Amphetamine designer drugs are central nervous system stimulants that are widely disseminated in the illegal market. Generally, in forensic laboratories, immunoassay methods are the first line of screening for these types of drugs in a biological specimen (typically blood, urine or oral fluid). In this article, we describe the cross-reactivity profiles of 30 new amphetamine designer drugs, using the Neogen(®) [Amphetamine Specific and Methamphetamine/3,4-Methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA) assays] drug tests. To assess the potential matrix influence on the response, each assay was tested on whole blood, urine and oral fluid. Concentrations of 10,000 ng/mL were not sufficient to produce a positive response for the majority of the analyzed amphetamines. This clearly demonstrates that, although these kits are extremely effective for the target drugs for which they are intended (amphetamine, methamphetamine and MDMA), they cannot be used to reliably identify the tested designer drugs in real cases, as these concentrations greatly exceed those expected to be found in forensic samples.