Arca Biopharma Explodes Higher After Announcing Plans to Test a Coronavirus Drug

Shares of Arca Biopharma were skyrocketing on Thursday and nearly quintupled in value after the company announced that it would develop a coronavirus treatment for patients with abnormal blood clotting.

The biotech company saw its shares soar 386.3% to 19.21. Shares had ended trading Wednesday at 3.95.

The company announced that it will study an experimental drug called AB201 in patients with Covid-19 and abnormal blood clotting. Abnormal blood clotting is one of the serious complications of Covid-19. Arca has already tested AB201 in more than 700 patients with other conditions.

Arca said that the drug already has “substantial safety data, which the company believes may enable more rapid development.”

The company plans to ask the Food and Drug Administration for permission to begin testing as a coronavirus treatment during the third quarter.

“The combination of anticoagulation, anti-inflammatory effects and antiviral activity have the potential to make AB201 a unique therapeutic to treat patients afflicted with COVID-19 while vaccine development is underway and for patients for whom a vaccine is not effective. We believe this therapeutic approach may also have potential to address future outbreaks of diseases related to other RNA viruses,” Arca CEO Dr. Michael Bristow said in a statement.