Drug testing lab initiates scholarship effort for treatment centers

A relatively new entrant into the clinical drug testing market is seeking to make its presence felt in the addiction treatment community with an offer of 50 treatment scholarships worth $10,000 each.

Facilities have until May 31 to apply for a scholarship for a patient, and the first drawings by San Antonio, Texas-based Sky Toxicology will be held June 1 at the West Coast Symposium on Addiction Disorders. Sky Toxicology's national sales director says the company maintains a long-term goal of giving back through its Pass the Torch scholarship initiative.

“We will try to be over the $1 million mark in 2015,” says Matt Green, referring to the company's intent to double the size of the scholarship program next year.

Most of the scholarships likely will be used to finance a residential treatment stay, though Green says they also can be used for detox or intensive outpatient levels of care. Participation in the program requires no present business relationship with, or future commitment to, the services of Sky Toxicology, which opened for business late last year.

Green says the company is working only with addiction treatment facilities in its client base. The founders of Sky Toxicology have operated other labs in the drug testing and medication monitoring market.

Subsequent drawings will take place at intervals over the course of this year, and all non-selected entrants will remain eligible for each drawing, Green says. He adds that Sky Toxicology has been receiving a good volume of applications for the scholarships; in its marketing of the offer it sent out a brochure to 6,000 treatment facilities.

He says organizers chose the “Pass the Torch” name with the intent of encouraging further participation in such efforts to give back within the industry. “We saw this as more or less a bandwagon, where other companies could also jump on, possibly by donating or matching funds,” Green says.

For more information about Pass the Torch, click here.