Good question, especially regarding the DrugTest 5000
There are definitely some clear competitors in this space, but we feel that non of them have really been able to address the needs of the market.
Ill start with the Draeger because it is close to my heart. This is the device that has been approved in Canada for roadside screening. This was such a massive mistake. The government gave out tons of funding for police precincts to buy these so of course they did. However, they simply are not being used. I spoke with the drug recognition expert at the first ever police precinct in Canada to buy these devices. They bought two, and the day after the Captain of the precinct told him not to use them. He put them under his desk and they have been there ever since. The problem with the DrugTest 5000 is it is the size of a microwave, needs to be on a level surface, and has accuracy issues especially with cannabis. And really, police officers hate having to swabs someone's mouth for two minutes to get a sample.
With respect to other saliva tests, some are better than the Drager, some are worse, but they all have the same kind of problems. The police hate using them because swabbing peoples' mouths is gross, time consuming, and problematic in terms of chain of custody for evidence. Police use them because they are the best road side screening tests available today, but they would drop them in a heart beat for something less invasive.
In terms of Hound Labs, we are not 100% sure what to think. We understand they have been around for much longer, but they have not been deployed in any police precincts in the US. I know they did some early pilots in California, but nothing seems to have come of them. In general, our main advantage over Hound Labs is cost and durability. Electrochemical immunosensors are very cheap and really robust. The same can generally not be said for the fluorescent approach being used by Hound Labs. In the end, we will see who can provide the best product for the police, but we are fairly confident we have the edge.
There are definitely some clear competitors in this space, but we feel that non of them have really been able to address the needs of the market.
Ill start with the Draeger because it is close to my heart. This is the device that has been approved in Canada for roadside screening. This was such a massive mistake. The government gave out tons of funding for police precincts to buy these so of course they did. However, they simply are not being used. I spoke with the drug recognition expert at the first ever police precinct in Canada to buy these devices. They bought two, and the day after the Captain of the precinct told him not to use them. He put them under his desk and they have been there ever since. The problem with the DrugTest 5000 is it is the size of a microwave, needs to be on a level surface, and has accuracy issues especially with cannabis. And really, police officers hate having to swabs someone's mouth for two minutes to get a sample.
With respect to other saliva tests, some are better than the Drager, some are worse, but they all have the same kind of problems. The police hate using them because swabbing peoples' mouths is gross, time consuming, and problematic in terms of chain of custody for evidence. Police use them because they are the best road side screening tests available today, but they would drop them in a heart beat for something less invasive.
In terms of Hound Labs, we are not 100% sure what to think. We understand they have been around for much longer, but they have not been deployed in any police precincts in the US. I know they did some early pilots in California, but nothing seems to have come of them. In general, our main advantage over Hound Labs is cost and durability. Electrochemical immunosensors are very cheap and really robust. The same can generally not be said for the fluorescent approach being used by Hound Labs. In the end, we will see who can provide the best product for the police, but we are fairly confident we have the edge.