ChemTrak will sell home drug tests by summer

Pete Barlas, Business Journal Staff Writer

ChemTrak Inc., a Sunnyvalebased medical device company known for its home
cholesterol test, is preparing to enter the drug testing market.

By summer, the company will begin selling home test kits designed for
parents wishing to determine whether their children are using narcotics
such as marijuana or cocaine.

The company is teaming with Parents Alert Home Drug Test Service of
Smyrna, Ga., to offer the drug test.

The Parents Alert system, which sells for $44.95, includes drug abuse
information and a urine bottle.

Parents may send the urine samples to a certified lab for testing, then call
a tollfree telephone number to get the results.

ChemTrak will market the test kits and provide royalties to Sunny Cloud,
founder and owner of Parents Alert.

Ms. Cloud started the company three years ago after discovering
problems with drug testing firsthand.

She caught her son smoking marijuana and forced him to take a drug test
at a local hospital. What she didn't know at the time was that the test
would be costly, and would become a permanent record that could affect
her son's ability to get insurance and a driver's license.

Ms. Cloud has sold about 2,000 kits from her home.

ChemTrak CFO Donald Fluken said the company believes the drug test
will be even more successful when it is marketed on a wider scale.

"We are looking at the youth movement because there is no other way to
treat this problem on a confidential basis," said Mr. Fluken.

As part of the collaborative service, ChemTrak will provide a team of
professional psychologists and psychiatrists to counsel parents about their
children.