Cordant Health Solutions Announces US Patent for Its CORE Oral Fluid Drug Testing Technology

DENVER, Nov. 15, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Cordant Health Solutionstm a provider of innovative tools for monitoring and managing behavioral health and chronic pain patients through its unique pharmacy and drug testing programs, announced that the United States Patent and Trademark Office has issued a patent for Cordant's Comprehensive Oral fluid Rx Evaluationtm (CORE) drug testing technology. This proprietary test aids prescribers in determining if patients are taking their chronic opioid prescriptions as prescribed or if other factors that impact drug levels might be present.

"CORE was developed to provide an innovative and convenient tool to provide information to clinicians that goes beyond our quantitative drug testing," said Susan Sommer, president and CEO of Cordant. "Multiple case studies have shown that CORE opens patient dialogue, and helps to promote adherence to prescribed treatment regimen, which leads to better outcomes. Additionally, collection is fast, simple and noninvasive. Observed oral fluid collection is not subject to the same risks of adulteration or substitution as urine testing."

CORE results relate the level of drug(s) detected to the range expected based on a patient's specific prescribed dosing regimen, helping clinicians better understand if the patient is taking the medication as directed or if further diagnostic assessment is warranted.

"What I find most valuable about CORE is that it provides me with more information about if the prescriptions I write are more likely being taken as directed," said Pacito Yabes, M.D., owner of Pain Rehabilitation Institute. "I am able to have better conversations with my patients when I have CORE results to discuss. Specifically, I just had a patient that was below the expected range with CORE. It turns out he was only consistently taking four of the six pills I prescribed daily. CORE helped me reduce the number of pills I was prescribing, while most importantly, ensuring appropriate patient care."

Historically, urine has been the primary specimen for detecting drug use in standard drug monitoring programs. However, urine drug testing is limited to only providing information about past exposure to the detected compounds and generally cannot indicate how many drugs were taken. While there are some boundaries, urine drug testing results typically indicate if a drug or its metabolites are present or absent in the body.

CORE testing is comprised of oral sample collection and oral fluid pH measurement. The sample is processed, and the CORE test performed via standard LC-MS/MS methodology. The measured oral fluid concentration is then related to an expected concentration range, based upon the prescribed dosing regimen, as well as patient-specific and drug-specific variables. CORE classifies the level of drug detected as within, above or below the expected concentration range. With CORE, a drug test result is not just a positive or a negative, but rather analyzes whether the drug test result is consistent within the expected range of a patient's prescribed regimen.

"CORE was developed to satisfy an unmet need in prescription drug monitoring," said Richard Stripp, Ph.D., chief scientific and technical officer at Cordant. "While blood testing can report dose correlation results, it is invasive, expensive and requires trained staff. With CORE, providers get many of the information benefits of blood testing with the convenience of noninvasive sample collection."

CORE was issued U.S Patent 10,073,069 B2 covering systems and methods to determine body drug concentrations from oral fluid. The patent for this innovative technology was assigned to Cordant Research Solutions, LLC, and is licensed exclusively to Cordant.

About Cordant

Based in Denver, Cordant Health Solutionstm (www.cordantsolutions.com) provides innovative tools for monitoring behavioral health, chronic pain and criminal justice cases. Our unique pharmacy and drug testing programs provide accurate, actionable results to protect prescribers, hold patients accountable and optimize quality of life.

As a leader in quality standards, Cordant is committed to developing solutions for payers, clinicians, and organizations involved with substance use disorder, pain management, and criminal justice agencies. Cordant is one of the only healthcare companies that offers monitoring and risk assessment tools through its innovative drug testing options and full-service, high-touch pharmacies, which specialize in the complex management and dispensing of controlled substances. Cordant's testing protocols and digital case-management tools help clients become more efficient and effective in using drug testing programs to monitor patient adherence, reduce risk and improve patient outcomes.

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SOURCE Cordant Health Solutions