PharmChem, Inc. operates as an independent laboratory that provides integrated drug testing services. The company’s customers include private and public employers, criminal justice agencies and drug treatment programs in the United States and Puerto Rico who seek to detect and deter the use of illegal drugs and alcohol.
The company tests for various drugs of abuse, including cocaine, methamphetamine, heroin, phencyclidine (PCP), marijuana (THC) and alcohol. The company tests primarily by urinal...
PharmChem, Inc. operates as an independent laboratory that provides integrated drug testing services. The company’s customers include private and public employers, criminal justice agencies and drug treatment programs in the United States and Puerto Rico who seek to detect and deter the use of illegal drugs and alcohol.
The company tests for various drugs of abuse, including cocaine, methamphetamine, heroin, phencyclidine (PCP), marijuana (THC) and alcohol. The company tests primarily by urinalysis but also with the PharmScreen and PharmView on-site screening devices and the PharmChek Drugs of Abuse Patch (for testing with sweat). Under the company's Premium Comprehensive Management program, it offers a set of services customized to assist customers in implementing drug testing programs.
Forensic Drug Testing
The essential elements of forensic drug testing are a secure chain of custody for each specimen from its collection to the reporting of its test result and accurate and reliable testing in which a second independent test is performed to confirm each positive test result. The company performs the majority of its testing at its laboratory in Haltom City, Texas. In recent years, the company introduced two product lines, the PharmScreen On-Site Screening Device and the PharmChek Drugs Of Abuse Patch, to provide alternatives to traditional urinalysis laboratory testing. The PharmScreen product line was extended in 2002 to include the PharmView on-site screening devices.
Screening Analyses
The company screen each specimen submitted for the presence of the drugs specified by the customer. The screening methods it uses include enzyme immunoassay and enzyme assay. Confirmation technologies it uses include gas chromatography/mass spectrometry (GC/MS) and gas chromatography. GC/MS confirmation is required for federally-regulated drug testing and most other workplace drug testing.
PharmScreen and PharmView On-Site Screening Devices
On-site screening relies upon portable diagnostic devices that the customer use at the point of specimen collection to readily identify drugs of abuse in urine specimens. The company offers two lines of on-site screening devices to supplement its laboratory-based testing services. PharmScreen and newly introduced PharmView are portable, hand-held devices used for on-site screening of drugs of abuse and are available in single, dual, four and five drug test configurations. PharmScreen is being used by certain government agencies, including the Administrative Office of the United States Courts (Federal Probation), and by certain private employers, including Sears Roebuck & Co. PharmScreen and PharmView provide only a preliminary analytical result, and a more specific alternative chemical method, such as GC/MS, is necessary to obtain a confirmed analytical result.
PharmChek Drugs Of Abuse Patch
PharmChek is a system that uses sweat to detect the presence of illegal drugs and has been under development by it since 1992. It consists of a transparent polyurethane outer covering, a small absorbent pad and a release liner. A unique number is printed on the underside of the polyurethane layer for identification and anti-counterfeiting purposes. Unlike urinalysis, flushing or employing a diuretic to rid the body of drugs of abuse does not affect PharmChek test results, since the drugs in the sweat simply collect on the absorption pad until the pad is removed for analysis. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has cleared PharmChek for detecting the use of cocaine, opiates (including heroin), amphetamines (including methamphetamine), phencyclidine (PCP) and marijuana (THC).
Program Analysis
The company collects and analyze data on test results in order to provide comprehensive monthly statistical reports to meet customers’ regulatory requirements and to assist with drug program management.
Customers
The company’s major customers include Sears, Roebuck & Co., and Lowes Companies, Inc.
Competition
The company’s competitors are Laboratory Corporation of America Holdings; Quest Diagnostics, Inc.; Psychemedics Corporation; Medtox Scientific, Inc.; and Northwest Toxicology, Inc.
History
PharmChem, Inc. was founded in 1971.