A WORLD-CLASS asthma research company spun out from Southampton University is set to float on London's Alternative Investment Market (AIM).

Called Synairgen, the firm specialises in unearthing and licensing treatments for chronic bronchitis and the severest forms of asthma, offering hope to millions of sufferers.

Market experts predict that the firm will float with a value of about £25m.

The company is already working on three collaborations with international drug companies and, along with the University of Southampton, has filed two patents.

Products under development include a means to tackle asthma attacks triggered by colds and a way to help asthmatic lungs repair themselves.

One child in eight receives treatment for asthma in Britain and there are 3.7 million adult sufferers. The disease kills four people a day.

World-renowned scientist Professor Stephen Holgate and his colleagues Dr Ratko Djukanovic and Dr Donna Davies, who founded Synairgen in the summer of 2003, were part of the team that uncovered the "asthma gene".

Professor Holgate, who has published more than 700 papers and is one of the most frequently cited authors in the field of bio-molecular science, said: "We are investigating what it is about the structure of an asthmatic or smoker's lungs which leads to a prolonged response of lung damage and altered repair, then we can work on ways to resolve these problems. More than 50 per cent of people have allergies, but only one-fifth of these people develop asthma. Analysing these helps us to identify drug targets."

Simon Shaw, Synairgen's non-executive chairman, said: "Despite the success of currently marketed therapies, asthma and chronic bronchitis are rapidly growing causes of morbidity and mortality worldwide.

"At Synairgen, we have one of the world's leading teams in respiratory disease, led by Professor Stephen Holgate, with a track record of at least 20 years of research and intellectual property development to build on.

"We are pursuing an AIM flotation in order both to finance the development of our portfolio of collaborative and proprietary programmes, and to create an independent corporate platform from which to exploit it through out-licensing."