Advances in noninvasive, fluid-less alcohol measurements

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The objective of TruTouch Technologies, Inc. is to develop a new, more accurate, and cost-effective technology for noninvasive measurement of alcohol in human subjects. The TruTouch noninvasive measurement device offers the promise of reduced measurement time, elimination of safety concerns regarding handling of bodily fluids, and simplification of the alcohol measurement process. The TruTouch noninvasive alcohol measurement technology has been tested in preliminary clinical studies that yielded very encouraging results that have spurred significant interest from the alcohol testing community. However, these studies also identified a limitation of the current technology for some alcohol markets. The technology currently measures the tissue of the yolar forearm, which exhibits non-ideal alcohol pharmacokinetic characteristics in markets such as alcohol monitoring of offenders on probation and parole. The purpose of this application is to perform all of the research and development required to transition the TruTouch noninvasive technology away from the forearm measurement site to one with improved blood-tissue alcohol pharmacokinetic characteristics. This improvement will be a significant advancement of the TruTouch technology that will help demonstrate technical feasibility for offender alcohol monitoring markets. The research and development effort will be addressed with 2 specific aims. The purpose of first specific aim is to identify and select 2 candidate alternatives to the forearm and perform the design and fabrication required to yield prototype devices. The second specific aim tests the critical aspects of the prototypes (alcohol measurement accuracy, tissue-blood pharmacokinetics, and biometric identity verification performance) using two clinical studies. Successful completion of both specific aims will establish the technical feasibility of the TruTouch noninvasive technology for unsupervised alcohol monitoring of probation and parole offenders in the corrections markets.