Shares of NRx Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NRXP) soared 39.9% in premarket trading on Thursday after the company said new peer-reviewed data published in the Journal of Infectious Diseases and Treatment showed that its experimental COVID-19 therapy improved survival in critically ill patients. The data came from an open-label trial assessing respiratory failure in 21 patients who were too sick to participate in the company's Phase 2b/3 trial evaluating the drug, aviptadil, in COVID-19 patients with respiratory failure. NRx said there were no adverse events, though low blood pressure was reported and managed in two patients. NRx's stock is down 61.3% so far this year, while the broader S&P 500 is up 16.1%.
-Jaimy Lee