Shield Diagnostics shares soar

Shares in Shield Diagnostics soared 30p to 552.5p after the group reported positive comments on its diagnostic test for heart disease, Associated Factor Twelve, from a Florence conference of cardiologists and haematologists.

The company said that the reception at the conference would help in in ongoing collaborative talks with potential partners for the test, which could be an alternative to cholesterol testing. Earlier this year, shares in the group soared following leaks that the AFT test was a better predictor of heart attacks than the traditional cholesterol test. Shield said yesterday that it could confirm that collaborative talks were pro gressing satisfactorily as were the group's plans to commercialise AFT.