La Jolla Shares Surge on Riquest Data

La Jolla Pharmaceutical Shares Surge on Presentation of Riquent Data

Shares of La Jolla Pharmaceutical Co. surged as the company highlighted positive data from several prior studies of its lupus drug candidate Riquent.

The stock surged $1.02, or 18.7 percent, to $6.49 in midday trading on more than 5 times average daily volume. Shares have traded between $2.77 and $8.68 over the last 52 weeks.
900-milligram doses were increasingly effective in reducing antibodies. The goal of the Phase III clinical study, results of which were first reported in March, was to prevent or delay renal flare in lupus patients with a history of the condition and antibodies to the disease. It involved 101 patients.

Renal (kidney) problems are very common in patients with lupus. Remember that lupus erythematosus is a disease caused by immune complexes. What this means is that the body produces immune complexes whenever there is an antibody response to a soluble antigen (infection that elicits and immune response). Lupus is a immune complex disease that is characterized by the formation of antibodies to DNA. As a normal process of cell turnover, nuclei [DNA] is exposed as newly made cells leave the bone marrow and mature into red blood cells.

These immune complexes are small and tend to be trapped/formed inside tissues and, primarily in the kidney. Renal disease is therefore the most frequently encountered symptom of LE.

Riquent's mechanism of action is to inhibit the production of autoantibodies from immune cells [B plasma cells]. Riquent is an immunomodulating agent that induces tolerance in B cells directed against double-stranded DNA. It does this by cross-linking surface antibodies. Tolerance basically is the cells not reacting to an antigen any further and sometimes the cells actually die. The fewer positive cells that produce autoantibodies then helps slow the progression of the disease.