A Novel Procedure for the Analysis of Drugs in Whole Blood by Homogeneous Enzyme Immunoassay (EMIT®)

Abstract

This paper describes a procedure for the analysis of whole blood by six commonly used EMIT d.a.u. assays: barbiturates, benzodiazepines, cocaine metabolite, opiates, amphetamines, and the cannabinoid 20 assays using the Syva Autocarousel and the COBAS MIRA. The sensitivity of the method rivals that of other immunoassay methods, such as RIA, for the detection of drugs in blood. The procedure has been successfully applied to the analysis of several hundred postmortem forensic blood specimens.