Shares of PCL, a provider of in vitro diagnostic products, have risen again on Monday, three days after receiving investment warning from the Korea Exchange due to a sudden spike in stock prices.

Up until November, the company’s shares were hovering below 8,000 won ($7.3) per share, which was the initial offering price. Since December, however, its stock price has surged so much that the regulator designated it as “stock under investment warning.”

When a particular stock abnormally increases, the Korea Exchange gives the warning to call investors’ attention and prevent unfair trading.

On the day of the initial public offering on Feb. 23, PCL’s shares closed at 9,160 won. However, the stock price remained at low levels between 4,000 won and 6,000 won per share until November. PCL’s shares jumped by the maximum limit of 15 percent on Nov. 30 and have been on the rise since then.

As of Monday, the stock price of PCL stood at 11,900 won, up 30 percent from the initial offering price. The company recorded transactions of 483,612 shares on Monday, which is the most among the companies floated on the stock market in the first half.

PCL has posted 2.86 billion won in accumulated operating loss in the first three quarters this year, down by 1 billion won from a year earlier. Its sales reached 363.6 million won.

Following the Korea Exchange’s demand to disclose the cause of the excessive upward movement of the stock on Dec. 5, the company replied on Dec. 6 that “it had no information to disclose” regarding the matter, however.

PCL has developed a point-of-care testing (POCT) product called Ai to quickly diagnose influenza A and B. It has also developed Ci-5 to simultaneously diagnose cancer on five organs – liver, pancreas, colon, ovary, and prostate.

The company is seeking to get approval for Ci-5, and observers forecast that the firm will complete the clinical trial on Ci-5 and start selling the product early next year.

Clinical trials on cancer diagnostic products need approval only from the Institutional Review Board (IRB), without any additional approval procedure.

However, a PCL official was cautious about mentioning Ci-5 approval, only saying that “the company was preparing to get CE (Communaute Europeenne) Marking.”

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