Drug-testing firm wins £2m investment

A UK-based company that developed a fingerprint drug-testing device has just raised £2m in funding from a consortium of private US-based investors.

The investment will allow Intelligent Fingerprinting’s (Norwich Research Park, Norwich, UK) unique product -- which detects illegal drugs from the sweat in fingerprints -- to be marketed worldwide.

Intelligent Fingerprinting is a spin-out company from the University of East Anglia (UEA). The innovative technique was developed within UEA’s School of Chemistry under the guidance of Intelligent Fingerprinting founder, Professor David Russell.

Initial funding, which came from the Iceni Seedcorn fund and Porton Capital, enabled a working prototype to be demonstrated to potential customers and investors.

There has already been worldwide interest in its technology for a wide range of applications - from testing employees are ‘fit for duty’, to screening drivers at the roadside for drug use.

-- by Dave Wilson, Senior Editor, Vision Systems Design