SINGAPORE (The Straits Times/ANN): Rapid urine test kits could soon be used by the authorities to detect etomidate, an illicit substance increasingly found in vapes here.
This marks another step in a recent clampdown against such vapes, known as Kpods, which have grown in appeal partly because some sellers claim the drug cannot be detected in urine.
A Health Sciences Authority (HSA) spokeswoman said on Aug 7 that such claims are false.
She added HSA was evaluating rapid urine test kits that could enable faster detection of etomidate use.
Ways to test for etomidate in hair and using saliva are also in the works.
Currently, vape pods, including those suspected to contain illicit substances such as etomidate, are tested at HSA’s laboratories.
They also conduct confirmation tests for etomidate in both blood and urine samples from patients admitted to hospitals.
The spokeswoman added: “Our laboratory findings confirm that even trace amounts can be detected in the urine of those who are vaping etomidate.”
Minister for Health Ong Ye Kung said on July 20 the authorities were working to list etomidate as an illegal drug under the Misuse of Drugs Act.
This came after a third of more than 100 vapes seized during enforcement operations and tested at random contained the substance.
The legal update paves the way for abusers and traffickers of Kpods to face stricter punishment, such as mandatory rehabilitation and jail time for repeat offenders.
Growing demand
Law enforcement agencies in other countries are also finding ways to test for the illicit substance as they grapple with a growing trend of etomidate abuse.
The substance, once called “space oil” in Hong Kong, has now been banned and renamed, and police there have been carrying rapid testing devices since January.
The Hong Kong Free Press reported that the device can be inserted into a vape and detects the drug within 15 seconds with a 99 per cent accuracy rate.
The substance emerged in the city in late 2023 and is now a scourge, with 327 etomidate abusers recorded in the first half of 2025, exceeding the 300 for the whole of 2024.
Two manufacturers of etomidate rapid test kits told ST there is a growing global demand for their products.
Chinese firm Hangzhou Clongene Biotech began developing urine and saliva rapid test kits two years ago in response to higher demand in China and abroad.
A sales manager, who wanted to be known only as Ms Blanche, said it mainly supplies these kits to the government, hospitals and police.
She told ST on Aug 12: “We received inquiries from some biopharmaceutical companies from Singapore in the past two weeks, and we are preparing samples for them to test now.”
Mr Kutong, a technical support and market manager for Ecalbio, a Chinese company which started manufacturing such kits in 2018, said it sold 400,000 test kits in 2024, up from 300,000 in 2023 and 100,000 in 2022.
He added that customers have come from the US, Canada and Russia, but not Singapore.
Results in minutes
The etomidate kits produced by these two companies resemble Covid-19 test kits.
Urine and saliva samples can be tested on them, and results are displayed within five to 10 minutes.
If etomidate is present, only the control line will become visible. A negative result is indicated by both the control and test lines becoming visible.
In June, a published paper in scientific journal Dalton Transactions presented a new chromium(III) complex-based sensor which could test for etomidate.
The sensor works by displaying a colour change if etomidate is present within vape liquids, and can provide accurate results within a minute, according to the research paper.
The team of researchers from the Hong Kong Polytechnic University and Hong Kong Baptist University said vaping etomidate is a red-hot social issue that has led to health concerns and deaths.
The researchers wrote: “A fast, sensitive and cost-effective detection tool for etomidate is urgently needed to support law enforcement.” - The Straits Times/ANN
