Axis-Shield, the Scottish-Norwegian maker of medical diagnostic kits, yesterday said it had won patent approval for the measuring methodology used in its diagnostic diabetes test in Japan.

The company, which has dual headquarters in Dundee and Oslo, said the patent grant complements US patent approval for design of the HbA1c cassette and notices of patent approval already received in Europe, China and Japan for applications covering the core technology.

The patent relates to the company's Afinion point-of-care system, which was designed for use in doctors' surgeries, hospital and health centre sites.

The Afinion HbA1c kit helps to monitor the crucial long-term control of blood glucose levels in diabetes patients and takes roughly half the time of rival tests - although in most cases blood samples are sent to laboratories, and weeks can pass before the results are returned to the patient.

The HbA1c test takes approximately three minutes, the company said.

Shares in the company, which was formed in 1999 through the merger of Dundee-based Shield Diagnostics and Norwegian competitor Axis, firmed 2.5p to close at 286.75p.

In August, Axis Shield unveiled a surge in half-year profits and announced plans to add lipids to its Afinion testing system, opening up a potential £260m market for the company.

Profit before tax for the six months to the end of June climbed to £1.6m, compared with £1.1m during the same period last year.

Revenues rose 28.8% to £42.7m in the half-year period, compared with £33.1m last time.