A "breathalyser" which can tell whether you have a peptic ulcer, has been invented by a York entrepreneur.

Ian Townsend of Ouseburn, former boss of Sheffield United football club and now chief executive of The Medical House Plc (TMH) has announced that his medical services information and equipment company has completed ahead of schedule a prototype of a "Hyperlaser" - and it is set to make millions of pounds.

Pre-clinical trials will now begin at the University of the West of England in Bristol to test the claims that the Hyperlyser can detect in exhaled breath the presence and extent of helicobacter pylori, the bacteria responsible for several gastric complaints such as peptic ulcers, recurrent indigestion and heartburn.

Full clinical trials will begin later this year.

It achieves its aim by measuring the extent of ammonia in the breath - and should significantly reduce the cost, time, and discomfort of usual methods of diagnosis, typically endoscopy or an operation.

The invention, with a potential market of 683 million people in the USA, Europe and Japan, up to 40 per cent who are infected with the germ, could more than justify Mr Townsend's decision to launch TMH on the stock exchange last July.

One of its first acts as a Plc was to acquire the rights for the Hyperlyser from Medysis for £1.4 million last September and at that time Medysis bought a six per cent stake in TMH.

The flotation on the AIM or Alternative Investment Market was rumoured to have earned Mr Townsend a personal fortune although he admits only to "doing quite nicely".

It is nearly four years since Mr Townsend sold his heavyweight accountancy firm, Townsend Management Consultants in Monkgate, York, to TMC Accounting.

One of his tasks was to turn around the fortunes of Comrad, the public company involved in the textile industry.

To give it more substance he helped it in a reverse takeover of Sheffield United.

When the chairman and chief executive resigned he became chief executive for eight months but left to concentrate on the growing fortunes of Sheffield-based Medical House.

He said: "CMD is now a technology leader in the development of medical devices.

"We intend to use its skills and expertise to develop several projects, principally medical devices similar to the Hyperlyser, success in any one of which could reap substantial rewards to the group."