- Cannabix Technologies (CSE:BLO) has reported a “significant technological development” with its marijuana breathalyzer
- The field asymmetric waveform ion mobility spectrometry (FAIMS) device has been undergoing power and sensitivity improvements for the last few months
- Cannabix now says that the device can successfully isolate THC in human breath, as well as nicotine
- Shares in the company have jumped 33.33 per cent to $0.64, with a market cap of C$67.28 million
Cannabix Technologies (CSE:BLO) has reported a “significant technological development” with its marijuana breathalyzer.
The company is currently focused on refining and commercializing the device for use by law enforcement and the workplace.
The field asymmetric waveform ion mobility spectrometry (FAIMS) device has been undergoing power and sensitivity improvements for the last few months. Cannabix now says that it can isolate THC and nicotine in human breath.
Dr. Richard Yost, Scientific Adviser to Cannabix, congratulated the company on its success.
“I’m impressed with the progress that has been made by the Cannabix team in the development of this newest version; the sensitivity and selectivity is impressive.
“I look forward to continued collaborations between UF and Cannabix to advance FAIMS detection,” he said.
Human breath testing was performed up to 90 minutes from the time of smoking. The FAIMS devices was then able to selectively isolate THC and nicotine, as well as suppress unwanted background compounds.
Metabolites for both cannabis and nicotine were also detected.
Cannabix cited a number of factors that contributed to the development; including cell geometry, flow optimization and ion-focusing techniques.
Dr. Raj Attariwala, Chief Scientific Officer at Cannabix, said that the significance of the achievement is difficult to overstate.
“We are very excited about our recent results on being able to consistently resolve THC and other analytes from breath.
“These key steps will result in a new type of device that the analytical and diagnostic fields have been seeking for breath analysis,” he added.
The recent developments were undertaken using a “bench version” of the Beta 3.1 FAIMS device, connected to a mass spectrometer for validation.
Shares in Cannabix have jumped 33.33 per cent to $0.64, with a market cap of C$67.28 million at 1:43pm EST.
