Researchers Identify New Biomarkers to Detect Consumption of Emerging Illicit Drug

 

“Researchers Identify New Biomarkers to Detect Consumption of Emerging Illicit Drug.” ScienceDaily, ScienceDaily, 30 Aug. 2021, https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2021/08/210830113320.htm

 

For my current event, I read the Science Daily article regarding the scientific breakthrough on new biomarkers for an emerging drug. The article talks about the work of Eric Chan, and his team of researchers from the NUS Department of Pharmacy and their identification of three new urinary biomarkers. These biomarkers can then be used to detect ADB-BUTINACA, an emerging synthetic cannabinoid that was both in the Europe and Asia drug scene. By synthesizing key metabolites of ADB-BUTINACA with human liver enzymes, the researchers were able to find these novel biomarker metabolites. Out of those found, only a select few were chosen due to the accuracy and stability levels of the biomarkers. 

 

            Beforehand, the existing metabolites of ADB-BUTINACA were frequently minimized or absent in low doses in the urine which made many drug cases hard to prove, Now thanks to Professor Chan and his team, despite the drug only being recently introduced to the public in Singapore and abroad, it can quickly be identified in these tests, which will help law enforcement and criminal cases involving the drug have more evidence to support their cases.

 

One thing that I wished that the article did was talk about the current cases regarding the drug, such as criminal sentencing or if these tests were already being used in criminal cases or in the future. This would have put the article into the future context of the current situation regarding  ADB-BUTINACA. However, I liked the article as it was well written and to the point, while still being able to praise Dr. Chan and his team for exploring new metabolites to identify more users of the drug. I thought this was an interesting topic given how despite how new the drug is, it has now been identified, and now tests that more accurately will find evidence in the urine will be produced in Singapore and more likely around the globe.