Pinkerton’s to Market Drug-Detection System

Pinkerton’s Inc. and Thermedics Inc. said they formed a joint marketing agreement to further develop and market a new drug-detection system for industrial and commercial markets.

Pinkerton’s is a Van Nuys-based security services concern. Thermedics, based in Woburn, Mass., already makes a drug-detection product that draws in air samples from a defined area and analyzes those samples for the presence of drugs.

The companies said that Pinkerton’s would have exclusive rights to market the newly developed service to U.S. businesses and that it expects to begin doing so next year. They added that the National Institute on Drug Abuse estimates that between 10% and 20% of all workers use illegal drugs at work.