An in-house opiate enzymoimmunoassay based on the Syva EMIT principle

Many laboratories involved in drug-abuse screening use enzymoimmunoassays such as Syva's EMIT system. Although automation has been extensively used to reduce assay costs, further reductions can be achieved by the development of in-house reagents. We have developed our own reagents for the detection of opiates in urine by using the Syva EMIT principle and adapted it for use on an Eppendorf EPOS analyzer. The immunogen was produced from 3-carboxymethylmorphine, and morphine-3-glucuronide attached to glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase was used as the tracer. Excellent agreement with Syva's commercial assays was obtained.