MILAN (Reuters) - Shares in Diasorin (MI:DIAS) jumped as much as 13.5% on Tuesday to reach a new all-time high on hopes that a coronavirus blood test developed by the Italian diagnostics group could be authorised for use as early as next week.
By 1145 GMT, Diasorin shares were 8.2 percent higher after touching a record high of 152.6 euros, against a 0.2% rise in the FTSE MIB index, after the head of the northern Italian region of Lombardy said the use of blood tests could be approved for use by April 21.
The test is being developed by Diasorin in conjunction with the Policlinico San Matteo hospital in Pavia and aims to identify antibodies in the blood developed by the immune system in reaction to the presence of the coronavirus.
The tests, which should provide results within an hour, should help authorities get a better idea of the spread of the epidemic, by identifying people who have been infected by the virus but who show no symptoms.
It may also help identify people who have developed immunity to the virus although Chief Executive Carlo Rosa said it was still too early to be sure.
"We don't know yet whether this will be enough to certify if a person is non-infective," Rosa told Reuters, adding that protocols would have to be developed in cases where swab tests or molecular blood tests indicated a person was negative but antibody tests showed they were positive.
"Our test is an instrument which will allow these studies to be conducted but then it's up to the virologists and the immunologists to show the way," he added.
Authorities have been racing to set up broad-based testing systems as part of a controlled return to work after weeks of lockdown. However, the efforts have been hampered by concerns over the reliability of blood tests.
Unlike swab tests, which look for the coronavirus directly in molecular samples taken from mucus, the blood tests being developed look for so-called IgG antibodies that show whether the immune system has developed a defence against the virus.
The Diasorin test can be carried out on the company's existing platforms which can process up to 170 samples an hour.