Intelligent Bio Solutions completes critical development milestone

New assays for ketamine and tramadol testing pass initial Intelligent Fingerprinting design phase and begin next stage of transfer to manufacture

Intelligent Bio Solutions Inc. (Nasdaq: INBS) (“INBS” or the “Company”), a medical technology company delivering intelligent, rapid, non-invasive testing solutions, today announced the successful completion of a key development milestone in its plans to add ketamine and tramadol to its Intelligent Fingerprinting Drug Screening System. New assays for testing both drugs have passed the Company’s initial design phase and are ready for scale-up and transfer to manufacture in preparation for potential clinical trials. After completing these activities and successful clinical trials, the assays can be added to the panel of substances detected by the Company’s proprietary drug screening system.

Ketamine is widely recognized worldwide as having the potential for drug abuse due to its hallucinogenic properties, while the synthetic opioid pain reliever tramadol is being added to controlled substances lists around the world. According to analysis conducted by the NYU Grossman School of Medicine and National Drug Early Warning System (NDEWS) at the University of Florida, the total weight of ketamine seized in the U.S. increased by more than 1,100% between 2017 and 20221, while UK Home Office statistics reports that the quantity of ketamine seized by UK police and border forces increased by 884% between March 2021 and March 20222. According to the National Drug and Alcohol Research Centre at the University of New South Wales, Australia is also seeing a rise in the use of illegal ketamine usage, with over half of regular drug users taking ketamine in 2021, an increase of 9% on the previous year3.

“While both ketamine and tramadol are widely used for legitimate medical and veterinary purposes, its increased use as a recreational drug has rapidly become a growing concern when it comes to workplace drug testing,” said Harry Simeonidis, President and CEO of Intelligent Bio Solutions. “We’re committed to continuously improving of the design of our innovative fingerprint drug testing system to test for major drugs with the potential for abuse, and we’re pleased to begin the important transfer to manufacture in preparation for potential clinical trials for our ketamine and tramadol assay.”