Lack of cross-reactivity of Ambien (zolpidem) with drugs in standard urine drug screens

Archives of Pathology & Laboratory Medicine, Apr 1997 by A A Piergies, S Sainati, B Roth-Schechter

To summarize and translate the results of this study into more general clinically relevant terms, it can be concluded that a positive urine drug test for benzodiazepines cannot be due to a false-positive following the ingestion of zolpidem. There was no indication that zolpidem would cross-react with the widely used Syva EMIT II or Abbott AD^sub x^ urine drug assay systems.

This study was funded by Lorex Pharmaceuticals, Skokie, Ill. Dr Piergies is Medical Director of the Clinical Pharmacology Unit at which the clinical trial was performed. Dr Sainati is employed as Director of Clinical Research at Lorex Pharmaceuticals. Dr Roth-Schechter is a consultant to Lorex Pharmaceuticals.

The authors acknowledge the expert assistance of Ann Bransley in managing this study and Alex Kouassi, who performed the statistical analyses.

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