Axis-Shield, the Scottish-Norwegian maker of medical diagnostic kits, yesterday said it had developed and manufactured a new test for the early diagnosis of rheumatoid arthritis and that it had the potential to alleviate the suffering of millions of people.

Axis-Shield, the Scottish-Norwegian maker of medical diagnostic kits, yesterday said it had developed and manufactured a new test for the early diagnosis of rheumatoid arthritis and that it had the potential to alleviate the suffering of millions of people.

The test, which is being manufactured at the company's Dundee research, development and production base, bolstering the operation's 125 staff, is expected to add £6.5m to its annual revenues by 2012.

The company, which has dual headquarters in Dundee and Oslo, said the anti-CCP, or cyclic citrullinated peptid, test had been designed to run on US partner Abbott Laboratories' Architect family of automated analysers and that it was more accurate than rival early-diagnostic tests for the disease.

Rheumatoid arthritis, which occurs in about one in 100 people, is a chronic auto-immune disease characterised by inflammation of the lining of the joints, causing pain and disability.

The new test, which can detect the disease before it becomes debilitating and thus allows those afflicted by it to receive early treatment, could ease the suffering of millions of people.

The disease often begins in middle age and is particularly prevalent in older people, although it can also develop in children and young adults.

Rheumatoid arthritis occurs in around three times more women than men.

Ian Gilham, Axis-Shield's chief executive, said: "We are pleased to have launched another proprietary assay on Abbott's flagship Architect system. We believe this will help to address the growing demand for the anti-CCP test and larger volume batch testing.

"Rheumatoid arthritis is a potentially debilitating disease and earlier disease diagnosis facilitates improved treatment options and offers substantial patient benefits."

The new test has been launched in non-US markets only, and Axis-Shield said an application had been filed with the Food and Drug Administration for US marketing clearance.

Abbott already markets Axis-Shield's homocysteine test for the Architect system and in November it said Axis-Shield's Active-B12 test would also be developed for use on the same analysers.

Homocysteine, an amino acid, is increasingly being regarded as an important predictor of a number of serious conditions, including cardiovascular and neuro-degenerative disorders, such as Alzheimer's.

Meanwhile, news of yesterday's launch was greeted enthusiastically in a number of medical circles internationally.

Dr Thomas Skogh, of Linkoping University Hospital in Sweden, said the new test had the potential to help large numbers of patients.

"The introduction of tests recognising anti-citrullinated protein antibodies has caused a revolution in rheumatology."

In the City, Michael King, an analyst at Nomura, said: "We expect that these products will make a significant contribution to revenue growth for Axis in the long-term - with £1.5m forecast in 2009, rising to £6.5m by 2012."

Shares in the company, which was formed in 1999 through the merger of Dundee-based Shield Diagnostics and Norwegian competitor Axis, firmed 1p to 312.5p.