New technology spots counterfeit drugs

ANALYZE IQ:A NEW METHOD of analysing chemical compounds has been developed by researchers from NUI Galway. The technology can be used to distinguish between counterfeit and genuine pharmaceutical medicines, or will allow law enforcement agencies to profile seized drugs.

For example, says Michael Madden, chief executive of Analyze IQ: “Our system can measure the amount of cocaine, and whether it has been cut [mixed] with glucose and other impurities.” This knowledge can then be used by police forces to determine the origins of a particular batch of drugs.

Similar analysis can be conducted on pharmaceutical products to determine if they have the required amount of active agent and identify any other components.

The project began with a conversation about seven years ago between Madden, who was an IT lecturer in the university with a focus on data mining, and a colleague working in chemistry who was using a molecular spectroscopy to analyse materials.

“They were using this spectroscopy technique for analysing materials and it was generating a lot of data, but it was quite a challenge to extract the requisite information,” Madden says.

He applied for funding with Enterprise Ireland and spent about four years working on technology to read the data produced by molecular spectroscopy. “We developed some new techniques that we were able to get some patents on and at the end of that research we . . . spun-out the company.”

His technology uses machine learning techniques and software techniques that build on acquired knowledge.

“If you start off with material where you know the composition and you know the correct answer, you can build models and start to apply it and give a good estimate of the composition of a material.”

Madden received assistance from the Technology Transfer Office in NUIG in setting up the company.

He recently signed an agreement for the US market with Florida-based Ocean Opics to sell Analyze IQ products in conjunction with sales of its spectroscopy systems.

“The trend in the industry is that these spectrometers, which have been laboratory-based instruments, are becoming more generally used, which hopefully will be good news for us.”

analyzeiq.com