The initial public offering of Akers Biosciences, the US diagnostics company, on the Alternative Investment Market (AIM) in London has raised bankers' hopes that Europe's healthcare sector is returning to fitness.

The decision by Akers to go public comes in the wake of four other biotech companies that have so far announced their intention to float in London this summer. They are YM Biosciences in Canada, advised by Canaccord, a Canadian investment bank Marshall Edwards, a US drug development company advised by KBC Peel Hunt Ark Therapeutics, an Anglo-Finnish cancer treatment specialist, jointly advised by Nomura and West LB Panmure and Bioprojects International, a UK biotech company advised by Seymour Pierce.