- Eastern Airways to use portable, hygienic, non-invasive fingerprint sweat test to support new European Aviation Authority regulations -
NEW YORK, Nov. 03, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Intelligent Bio Solutions Inc. (Nasdaq: INBS) (the "Company”), a life sciences company developing non-invasive, real-time diagnostic testing for patients and their primary health practitioners at point of care, today announced Eastern Airways is set to use an innovative drugs test that uses fingerprint sweat to help ensure its employees are fit-to-work. The award-winning, leading provider of private air charter flights and short-haul flights across the UK and Northern Ireland, will start to drugs test employees randomly from across the business – from flight crews to maintenance personnel in a bid to promote adherence to the company’s Drug and Alcohol policy.
The Intelligent Fingerprinting drug screening system will also help Eastern Airways to comply with recently introduced regulations from the European Aviation Authority designed to promote staff wellbeing and support in response to lessons learnt from the tragic Germanwings flight of March 2015.
The Intelligent Fingerprinting test is a portable system that screens for very recent use of drugs such as cannabis, cocaine, opiates and methamphetamine by collecting a simple sample of fingerprint sweat – in contrast to the traditional biohazardous urine or saliva samples other drug test methods employ. A major benefit for Eastern Airways is that tests can be managed in-house by a company’s own HR team. Sample collection through fingerprint drug testing is completed in under a minute with clear results in ten. It is so easy to use that organizations including Eastern Airways have been able to adopt the train the trainer approach – where one person in HR for example has been trained to use the system and then can easily pass this knowledge on to others within the company.
Charles Auty, Safety Manager at Eastern Airways said: “The medical fitness of aircrew – both physical and mental – has understandably come into the spotlight and, quite rightly, new regulations are now in force. As a result, the Eastern Airways team obviously needed to comply, so we set about researching the best ways to test for drug and alcohol use. We knew we had found the answer with Intelligent Fingerprinting’s innovative testing approach. Not only could we purchase both drug and alcohol tests from a single supplier, but the drug test is particularly suited to our requirements as we can do it all in-house from any of the airports Eastern Airways travels to if required. And, because the fingerprint drug testing system doesn’t require any specialist collection facilities or medical personnel in attendance, we have the flexibility to test as and when needed.
“Intelligent Fingerprinting ticks all the boxes for D&A testing at Eastern Airways. Of particular interest to the airline industry is the Intelligent Fingerprinting system’s portability. Once in its protective case the testing kit is just the right size to be taken on board one of our aircraft as baggage – enabling us to easily transport it to any of the airports where we operate –and to test aircraft crew / local staff if required,” added Charles Auty.
“We’ve already seen fingerprint-based drug screening prove successful in the aviation sector, where it has been used to help combat the challenge of bodypacking at airports. With Eastern Airways, we’re now seeing how our drug screening solution can increasingly become the smart choice for airlines looking to meet their European Aviation Authority regulatory requirements,” added Intelligent Fingerprinting’s Executive Chairman, Philip Hand.
Fingerprint-based drug testing – how it works : Intelligent Fingerprinting’s drug testing system features a small, tamper-evident drug screening cartridge onto which ten fingerprint sweat samples are collected, in a process which takes less than a minute. The Intelligent Fingerprinting portable analysis unit then reads the cartridge and provides a positive or negative result on-screen for all drugs in the test in ten minutes.
About Intelligent Bio Solutions Inc.
Intelligent Bio Solutions Inc. is a life sciences company developing and delivering intelligent, non-invasive, real-time testing solutions to customers globally. With its world-first Biosensor Platform, Intelligent Bio Solutions is developing and launching diagnostic tests urgently needed to help people living with chronic disease. In addition, through its recent acquisition of Intelligent Fingerprinting, the company is the world leader in the advancement of portable drugs of abuse testing through the analysis of fingerprint sweat. The test is non-invasive, hygienic, fast, and cost-effective, and screens for recent use of opioids, cocaine, methamphetamines, benzodiazepines and marijuana. Sample collection takes just seconds, with results in ten minutes. A laboratory confirmation service is also available. The system has applications within many sectors, and customers include employers in safety-critical industries such as construction, transport and logistics firms, drug treatment organizations, as well as UK coroners.
About Eastern Airways
Eastern Airways is a regional airline currently operating within the UK and Ireland, with a fleet consisting of Jetstream 41, ATR 72-600, and Embraer aircraft. Established in 1997, the airline initially built up its network of scheduled services around the North Sea offshore industry with flights to Aberdeen. Eastern Airways operates to and from the following UK and Ireland airports: Aberdeen, Dublin, Gatwick, Humberside, Manchester, Newcastle, Newquay, Southampton, Sumburgh & Wick.
Company Contact:
Alex Arzeno – Vice President of IR & Communications
Intelligent Bio Solutions Inc.
Investor.Relations@gbs.inc
Investor Contact:
Tim McCarthy – Managing Director
LifeSci Advisors, LLC
Tim@LifeSciAdvisors.com
Media Contact:
Cheryl Billson
Comma Communications
cheryl.billson@commacomms.com
