PharmChem Laboratories Inc.announced that Sudormed Inc.has filed with FDA its intention to distribute a sweat collectionpatch for detection of cocaine use.

PharmChem (NASDAQ:PCHM) of Menlo Park, Calif., a drugtesting laboratory, and Sudormed, a privately held medicaldevice company, signed an exclusive license and supplyagreement last March for the drug-detection patch.

The notification was submitted to FDA following extensiveclinical studies that demonstrated that cocaine use can bedetected by laboratory analysis of sweat collected on the Band-Aid type patch. The tamper-evident patch can be worn fordays and then analyzed to detect the use of illegal drugs oralcohol. Jay Whitney, PharmChem's president and chiefexecutive officer, said the sweat patch allows continuousmonitoring

Bill Miller, Sudormed's president and chief executive officer,said it has long been known that very low levels of drugs andalcohol can be detected in sweat. "The submittal to the FDA forcocaine is the first in the clinical studies program which planssubmittals for marijuana, methamphetamine, opiates, PCP andalcohol during 1993," he said.

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