Rhythm Biosciences (ASX:RHY) is showing it has its crap together – literally – as it works to make faecal occult testing a thing of the past.

RHY shares rose again Wednesday morning after the red-hot biotech announced that prototype colorectal test-kits produced by its new manufacturing partner appear to be just as effective as the results Rhythm has achieved in the lab.

Rhythm shares are up more than 13-fold in the last 12 months as the Melbourne company works to commercialise a rapid pinprick blood test to detect bowel cancer, that would replace the current faecal occult blood tests.

The company in December appointed France-based Biotem as its global manufacturing partner, and the company delivered prototype ColoSTAT test-kits late that month ahead of schedule, Rhythm announced Wednesday.

“The early view on the performance of the test-kits manufactured by Biotem provides further confidence on our underlying technology that will drive the success of ColoSTAT into the future,” Rhythm chief executive Glenn Gilbert said.

Rhythm said its Study 6 evaluating the ColoSTAT test on around 200 patient samples was due to complete by the end of March.

Those results could form the basis of a CE Mark application that would allow the company to sell the test in the European Union, while other markets including Australia would require results from Study 7, expected towards the end of this year.

Shortly before noon RHY shares were trading at $1.36, up 7.9 per cent from yesterday’s close of $1.26.

RHY shares – which were languishing around 12c as late as early September – traded as high as $1.47 yesterday morning, an all-time intraday high, before dropping in the afternoon.