Agilent and Florida International University to study designer drugs

Agilent Technologies is allying with Florida International University to create more sophisticated ways of detecting and curbing use of compounds known as designer drugs.

The life science firm will work alongside Dr Anthony DeCaprio's team at the university's department of chemistry and biochemistry and its International Forensics Research Institute to create new methods for rapid forensic screening and analysis, based on advanced chromatography and mass-spectrometry systems.

Designer drugs are novel analogs or derivatives of existing illicit drug compounds that are synthesised to produce similar recreational effects, while circumventing existing prevention laws.

Recently, the university validated a method for the detection and quantification of 32 designer drugs in serum and now hopes to expand its tandem mass-spectral library to approximately 300 of these compounds.

Tom Gluodenis, Agilent's global marketing manager of forensics and toxicology, said the aim of the research is "to provide private, academic and government institutions with sophisticated technology and screening methods that will quickly and accurately identify these substances so that laws enacted to restrict their use can be readily enforced".

The firm recently reported that it generated revenues of $1.68 billion (1.11 billion pounds) for the first fiscal quarter of 2013, up by three percent year over year.