Concept · saliva drug screening

A number, not a squint.

Roadside, workplace and treatment-program drug tests mostly use saliva cups or strips read by eye, where a faint line means "maybe". A crystal reader measures each drug as a concentration, ignores the color of the sample and keeps a time-stamped digital record. One swab, up to twelve drugs.

Run the panel Compared with today

Illustration

Try it · twelve drugs, one swab

Strip A, strip B. Twelve answers.

Strip A covers the common drugs of abuse; strip B covers prescription drugs that are misused and the medicines used in treatment programs. A roadside check could run strip A alone; a treatment program might run a two-line strip for one medicine.

Strip A · 6 linesCommon drugs

The standard roadside and workplace drugs.

THC–

Cocaine–

Opiates–

Fentanyl–

Amphetamine–

Methamphetamine–

Strip B · 6 linesPrescription and treatment

Misused prescriptions, and the medicines programs need to confirm.

Benzodiazepines–

Oxycodone–

MDMA–

Buprenorphine–

Methadone–

Alcohol marker–

Illustration with invented values relative to each drug's cutoff (white line). Panel is a design target; screening results would be confirmed by laboratory methods.

Compared with today

Same swab. Better answer.

The crystal reader keeps the speed of a roadside cup and adds what only a lab gives today: a measured concentration and a record.

	Saliva cup today	Lab confirmation	Crystal reader (concept)
Time to result	Minutes	Days	Minutes
Result	Line read by eye	Concentration	Concentration
Sample color and food	Can interfere	Cleaned up in the lab	Not seen by the reader
Drugs per test	Several	Many	1, 2, 6 or 12
Record	Photo or paper	Report	Digital, time-stamped

2 × 6two strips, six lines each

1 · 2 · 6markers per strip, as the test needs

12fixed lasers, one per line, no scanning

One format for every test →

Precedent

The physics has done this before.

Upconverting reporters have been used for oral-fluid drug testing before: in the early 2000s OraSure's UPlink system read the five standard drugs of abuse from saliva in about ten minutes with upconverting phosphors. Today's uniform crystals, multi-color and lifetime codes, and a stationary twelve-laser reader take that idea further.

Roadside

Impaired driving

A quick swab with a measured result and a record that stands up later.

Workplace

Safety-sensitive jobs

Observed saliva collection, no bathroom, results on site.

Treatment

Recovery programs

Confirm the prescribed medicine is taken and nothing dangerous is added.

Partners wanted

Twelve drugs. One swab. Real numbers.

We are looking for drug-testing, law-enforcement, occupational-health and treatment-program partners to build the saliva panel.

Start a conversation Email NovaVera

All diagnostics programs

One reporter. People, animals and the environment.

See the overview and readiness map →

Intelligent Material Solutions invents the crystals and holds the intellectual property; NovaVera Corp. makes and sells them under an exclusive license. The field-proven lateral-flow tests are for research use only. Everything marked in development or concept is not a cleared medical, veterinary or environmental test; any product would need validation and, where required, regulatory clearance.