DNA Genotek's Sample Collection Kit to Be Used in Substance Abuse Study Among ADHD Patients

DNA Genotek’s Oragene•DNA sample collection kit has been selected by the 10-nation International Collaboration on ADHD and Substance Abuse (ICASA) study. The aim is to explore the genetic basis of vulnerability in ADHD patients for development of substance use disorder (SUD).

Oragene•DNA is used for stabilization, transportation, and purification of DNA from saliva. More than 5,000 treatment-seeking SUD patients at 13 centers in the U.S., Australia, and eight  European nations will be asked to provide a saliva sample using Oragene•DNA. Sample collection will cease in June, and the first results are expected in 2012.

Specifically, the study will investigate the prevalence rates of ADHD in treatment-seeking patients with SUD; differences between countries and between different substances and treatment settings; the course and development of SUD in patients with and without ADHD; as well as the validity of screening and diagnostic procedures for ADHD in this population.

“In this population of treatment-seeking SUD patients, collecting saliva is far more feasible than obtaining blood samples, and we expect the Oragene sample kits will prove beneficial as we strive to determine if there are specific genes responsible for developing SUD when ADHD is present,” says Geurt van de Glind, director of the ICASA Foundation.

Funding for the study, according to ICASA, came from: “Unrestricted” grants from four pharmaceutical companies(Janssen Cilag, Eli Lilly, Shire, and UCB) that agreed to exert no influence on the research methods, researchers, or results; each local participating site; and three private funding foundations (Waterloo Foundation in the U.K. and Noaber Foundation and Augeo Foundation in The Netherlands).The foundations agreed to fund a Ph.D. position at the University of Amsterdam to oversee data collection, analyses, and publication of results.

Other research institutes using DNA Genotek's Oragene•DNA include Harvard, Stanford, Cambridge, and Johns Hopkins.