Dr Jerry Walker, Chief Executive Officer, Intelligent Fingerprinting said: “This timely new investment represents another step forward for our company. It allows us to finalise our revolutionary mobile drug screening technology for market and begin the manufacturing process to meet early demand for the first of our planned fingerprint-based products.”
Intelligent Fingerprinting secured initial investment in 2009, followed by the first round of funding from the company’s US investors in 2012. Prior to today’s announcement, the company has raised £5.73m of private investment in the past four years, in addition to the original seed funding of £0.5m. It has also secured several government-funded grants, including a sizeable grant from the EUREKA Eurostars Programme (administered by Innovate UK) and funding for pilot studies within the UK’s National Health Service and coroners’ services.
Intelligent Fingerprinting’s portable fingerprint-based technology promises to greatly simplify the way in which drug screening is carried out. Sample collection takes five seconds and the analysis of fingerprint sweat to screen for multiple drugs of abuse takes fewer than 10 minutes. The device has potential for use in a variety of drug screening situations including drug rehabilitation services, offender management, criminal justice and occupational health.
About Intelligent Fingerprinting
Intelligent Fingerprinting is developing a revolutionary fingerprint-based portable drug screening device. The technology, which works by analysing the sweat from a fingerprint sample, will enable non-invasive, cost-effective screening for multiple drug groups in less than 10 minutes. The product is the first of its kind in the world and is expected to go into production in the near future.
The company’s ground-breaking technology detects drug use by analysing chemicals, known as metabolites, contained in the minute traces of sweat found in a fingerprint. (Metabolites are chemicals produced by the body as a result of normal metabolic processes.) The device looks for the presence of drug metabolites in the test subject’s fingerprint sweat sample and, if detected, identifies the type of drugs which have been ingested, inhaled or injected.
A version of the device will allow the capture of a detailed image of the test subject’s fingerprint. This image may be used to confirm personal identity in relation to the test result, ruling out false positives due to sample mix ups.
Intelligent Fingerprinting has attracted worldwide interest in its technology from a wide range of drug-screening markets including the criminal justice arena, drug rehabilitation centres, prisons and occupational health services. The technique has potential for many other uses including healthcare diagnostics and homeland security applications.
Since 2012 Intelligent Fingerprinting has raised £5.73m in funding from a consortium of private UK and US-based investors, as well as government funding for pilot studies within the UK’s National Health Service and coroners’ services.
Founded in 2007, Intelligent Fingerprinting is a spin-out company from the University of East Anglia (UEA). The company is based in Cambridge, England and employs around 20 people.
www.intelligentfingerprinting.com
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For media information contact Lorraine Walters at Say Communications
Email: lwalters@saycomms.co.uk Tel: +44 (0)20 8971 6400
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New £2.5m investment in innovative fingerprint-based drug screening technology
1 February 2016
Intelligent Fingerprinting, the British company developing the world’s first portable fingerprint-based drug screening device, has secured a further £2.5m investment from private UK and US investors. The funding will provide working capital to complete the development of the company’s first products and to begin manufacturing at their new custom-designed premises in Cambridge.