The timing, frankly, couldn’t have been better, to judge from the sniffles and streaming eyes in this office, as analysts yesterday hailed what they called a revolution in allergy treatment after Allergy Therapeutics had announced that a final-stage trial of its hay fever jabs had shown a significant reduction in symptoms among 1,000 sufferers.

Hay fever sufferers will read on with particular interest. Allergy said that it would file for European Union approval for the Pollinex Quattro vaccine by the first quarter of next year and Investec, the broker, said that the product should be on chemists’ shelves by the end of 2010. The jab is taken four times and acts within three or four weeks. Patients’ symptoms improved by 26 per cent compared with those on a placebo.

Allergy Therapeutics rose 6p to 34¾p as Investec said: “A backdrop of uncertainty in the US, poor liquidity and inadequate cash will hold the stock back, but the market cannot ignore a major new product.”

D1 Oils, which cultivates jatropha plants for biofuel, fell 4p to a new low of 21p after BlackRock, a big investor, cut its stake. Corin dived 100p to 350p after saying that Stryker, its key American client, had cancelled orders of its Cormet artificial hip implants until at least December because of delays in training surgeons.

Land of Leather fell 5p to 37½p after its rival ScS Upholstery, down 7p to 47p, said that bank holiday sales had fallen by 20 per cent and that full-year profits would not meet forecasts.

Oxus Gold jumped 5¼p to 28p after it raised cash in new loan notes convertible into shares at 37p, to finance mining production in Uzbekistan.

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