Pharmicell’s stock prices shot up for two consecutive days on Friday, as investors anticipated more U.S. demands for the company’s raw materials for the new coronavirus (COVID-19) testing kits.

As of 2:40 p.m. on Friday, the company’s shares surged 18.83 percent to trade at 18,300 won ($15.2). The shares have been on the rise for six business days.

Compared to the closing price of 9,220 won on Thursday last week, the price on Friday was more than two folds higher. Pharmicell’s market cap stood at 1.09 trillion won as of 2:40 p.m. on Friday.

Investors paid keen attention to Pharmicell after analysts said Tuesday that the company would benefit from the COVID-19 pandemic.

Thermo Fisher Scientific, a diagnostic equipment company recently approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for the COVID-19 detection kit, is also a customer of Pharmicell. Thermo Fisher Scientific had purchased 3.3 billion won of nucleoside from Pharmicell in February and March when COVID-19 began to spread widely. The purchase is almost half of the total Pharmicell’s nucleoside sales.

“Recently, the U.S. government has decided to provide free virus tests to its citizens,” Korea Investment and Securities researcher Jin Heung-gook said. “We expect a direct benefit to Pharmicell, which produces nucleosides used as the main ingredient to make the diagnostic reagent and gene therapies necessary for diagnosing various viruses, with the increasing demand for test kits in the U.S.”