Deputy Prime Minister Highlights Trimega Laboratories' Investment in Brazil

LONDON, June 22, 2011 /PRNewswire/ --

- Trimega Partners With Brazil's Laboratório Sodré to Test Hair Samples of Brazilian Police for Evidence of Drug Abuse

- Trimega Plans to Open "Super Laboratory" in Brazil for Hair Drug Tests

Nick Clegg, the Deputy Prime Minister, today highlighted Trimega Laboratories' investment in Brazil during a keynote speech in Brasilia during the UK trade delegation's visit to the country.  Trimega, one of the world's leading companies for testing hair for substance abuse, has signed a partnership with Laboratório Sodré of São Paulo, Brazil, to conduct tests on Brazilian hair samples for evidence of drug misuse.  Trimega also plans to open a Brazilian "Super Laboratory" for hair drug and alcohol testing in the next 18 months.

Initially, Trimega will test hair samples for the Brazilian police force at its state-of-the art laboratory in Manchester, which was opened in February, following a £1m (R$2.6m) investment by the company.  Trimega will review the hair for a comprehensive range of drugs, including amphetamines, crack, cocaine, marijuana and other opiates.

UK Trade Investment, the UK's leading body for promoting UK exports, introduced Trimega to Laboratório Sodré.

John Doddrell, Director of UK Trade & Investment in Brazil, said: "Trimega is an established UK leader for drug and alcohol testing of hair. We are very pleased to have helped a British company with such cutting edge capacity to find a valuable Brazilian partner, and to develop bilateral cooperation in science and business between the two countries."

Avi Lasarow, CEO of Trimega Laboratories, said: "We are delighted to partner with Laboratório Sodré and that the Deputy Prime Minister spoke about our investment in Brazil during his speech in Brasilia.  We look forward to the first samples from Brazil arriving in our Manchester laboratory, developing Brazil's first superlab for drug and alcohol testing compliance, and creating jobs for the local economy."

Mr.Sodré, CEO of Laboratório Sodré, said:  "Trimega Laboratories is one of the most advanced laboratories of its kind in the world, with a proven track record of working with governments, the police, the aviation industry and other sectors. The company's experience and its willingness to work closely with us, together with its vision of transferring its knowledge to us, made Trimega the natural partner."

Hair drug testing is a revolutionary method of testing for drugs using hair strands.  It not only determines the presence of an illegal substance, but can also provide an accurate historical record of substance misuse. This helps in differentiating between a one-off user and a chronic substance abuser.  Hair drug testing covers up to 12 months depending on the type and length of hair of the donor.  More traditional forms of testing, such as analysis of urine and blood, can provide a record of consumption of only the previous three days and four to six weeks, respectively.  Approximately 1.3cm of hair is required for one month of results.

Trimega has the latest mass spectrometry techniques to accurately determine drug usage to very small detectable levels, including High Performance Liquid Chromatography tandem mass spectrometry (HPLC/MS/MS) and the gas chromatographic equivalent (GC/MS/MS). These techniques are often referred to as the 'Platinum Standard' when compared with traditional GC/MS analysis, and enable analysis of positive and negative results.  Most laboratories in the USA do not combine both testing techniques.

Trimega already tests for nearly half of the UK market for hair tests, working mostly with the legal sector and social services, and is growing rapidly.

The Cabinet Office's announcement about the Deputy Prime Minister's speech can be seen at the following link:   http://www.dpm.cabinetoffice.gov.uk/news/new-era-uk-brazil-relations.

About Laboratório Sodré (http://www.laboratoriosodre.com.br/novo )

Established in 1985 by bio physician Claudio Ariano Sodré, Laboratório Sodré was founded with the aim of providing accurate clinical analysis to clients across the medical establishment.

The company aims to provide high levels of technical, ethical and moral service to clients, in accordance with the standards established by the Brazilian Clinical Pathology Society.

The business has steadily grown to its current size of eight service units and offers over 3,000 tests in the clinical analysis field, as well as other divisions that work in the fields of toxicological testing, occupational medicine, and DNA testing.

The company uses state-of-the-art technology to provide efficiency and efficacy. It provides results via e-mail and offers individualised access via the internet to clients and physicians.

Investment in human capital is extremely important to Laboratório Sodré, and it invests in continual professional development - there are now more than 40 professionals employed by Laboratório Sodré: bio physicians, biologists, nurses and nursing technicians, all trained to deliver excellent results to clients and physicians.

About Trimega Laboratories (http://www.trimegalabs.co.uk)

Established in London in 2005, Trimega Laboratories is well recognised for being a leader in the development of innovative techniques for testing for substances of abuse. Its core business is laboratory-based analysis of hair samples that provide accurate historical records of alcohol or drugs dependency over a one to 12 month period. In the UK, Trimega's core clients include: family law specialists, law courts, and social services.  

Trimega was the first to market with dual marker hair alcohol testing (FAEE and EtG). Dual hair testing provides very accurate results: at its annual conference in March 2011, the Society of Hair Testing (SoHT) confirmed that dual testing on hair for alcohol misuse provides accuracy rates of over 94% for false negatives and over 99% for false positives.  The SoHT's consensus was based on analysis of Trimega's data set of approximately 2,000 dual hair testing samples, the largest of its kind in the world.

Other services offered by Trimega include: Roadside Drugalyzer Testing for law enforcement, Hair Steroid Testing for athletes, and Hair Benzodiazepines Testing.

Trimega won the title of Best Use of Technology in the 2008 Barclays-sponsored Startups Awards, and has been on the shortlist for the National Business Awards three years running. Trimega is also one of 25 companies to represent the UK in the 2011 European Business Awards.

Trimega conducts its hair alcohol analysis in laboratories in Germany which are accredited with international standard ISO 17025 by DAkkS, the German issuing authority, equivalent to UKAS in the UK. The technology for hair-alcohol testing originated in Germany.

The UK Ministry of Justice does not require hair testing laboratories to be accredited. However, Trimega's UK laboratory in Manchester, which carries out drug tests, operates to ISO 17025 standards, and has applied for ISO 17025 accreditation from UKAS. Trimega's Manchester laboratory already has IS0 9001:2008 certification from Lloyd's Register Group, itself accredited by UKAS, for the 'provision of clinical collecting, testing, analysis and interpretation services for substances of abuse'.  In addition, the Manchester laboratory is the only UK laboratory in the industry to have ISO 14001 certification from QMS International, the environmental management system standard for internal quality management. Trimega is an Investor in People.

Trimega was responsible for the creation of a Hair Strand Scientific Advisory Board. Its purpose is to analyse the fast growing database of information created from the 10,000 hair alcohol tests and 7,000 hair drug tests carried out on UK samples each year, of which Trimega is responsible for around 40%. The findings of the Board are shared with the Society of Hair Testing which will assist it in future decisions, particularly those relating to the setting of universal standards/guidelines.