Stock Alert: La Jolla Pharma Shares Surge 30% In Premarket

(RTTNews) - La Jolla Pharmaceutical Co. (LJPC) shares are surging above 30% in pre-market today, after the company announced that it is providing GIAPREZA (angiotensin II) in Italy for compassionate use in patients with septic shock associated with COVID-19.

The company noted that GIAPREZA is being made available for compassionate use based on a request from Alberto Zangrillo, M.D., Full Professor of Anesthesia and Intensive Care and Giovanni Landoni, M.D., Associate Professor of Anesthesia and Intensive Care at San Raffaele Hospital in Milan, Italy.

According to Italian law, authorized medicines for life-threatening and rare illnesses can be made available prior to commercial availability under a compassionate use program. Meanwhile, GIAPREZA has been recently approved by the European Commission but is not yet commercially available in Europe.

The stock has been trading in the range of $2.30 - $13.90 for the past one year, and closed Thursday's trade at $3.81, down 20.89%.