A Nasdaq excessive on Chinese herbs | USAEMALL.com

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Traditional Chinese medicine is so hot right now:

Regencell is a Hong Kong-based/Cayman Islands-incorporated/Nasdaq-listed “early-stage” bioscience company that develops herb-based treatments for ADHD and autism spectrum disorder.

Net losses reached $4.36mn and $6.06mn in the fiscal years ended June 30 2024 and 2023. But a frankly stupid surge over the past 30-odd days means the company is now valued at about $9.7bn — somewhere between Jefferies and Walgreens — having hit $11.4bn on Friday.

Two things might explain Regencell’s roughly 15,000 per cent gain this year: either it miraculously discovered a plant-based cure for hyperactivity (though it has not disclosed as much in filings), or its shares (13mn of which are outstanding, with about 800,000 in the float) are themselves being hyperactively massaged higher by persons unknown.

Trading in the company’s stock is a tad erratic, ranging from as little as 8,000 shares exchanged on March 12, 2025 to 23.3mn a few days later. On Monday, Regencell’s board of directors approved a 38-for-one forward split — subject, of course, to the final approval of Nasdaq Capital Market’s notoriously tough taskmasters.

Regencell’s first research study in 2018 left no hot stone unturned. Seven patients aged five to 12 who had been diagnosed with ADHD or ASD were taken off existing medication and treated with personalised Regencell ’erbs. And wouldn’t you know it: “All participants showed a drop in assessment scores” after a three-month course with its liquid-based TCM formulas.

The company employs 12 people and went public on Nasdaq in July 2021 with the help of US underwriter Maxim Group and New York legal firm Hunter Taubman Fischer & Li, raising about $21mn. A month later its shares had climbed from their offer price of $9.50 to an intraday high just below $60.

The unlikely jump was cheered by Regencell CEO, founder and director Yat-Gai Au (who controls the company through a BVI entity) in his letter to shareholders later that year . . . 

“Regencell is the #1 performing stock among the 1,035 US IPOs in 2021. I am extreme grateful for all your support!

. . . even as he lashed out at a supposed “short selling attack” on Regencell’s shares.

Au is a seemingly unassuming guy who filings state once worked in investment banking at Deutsche Bank and ING Barings. His stripped-back Twitter/X account betrays a fondness for basketball star Stephen Curry, Apple boss Tim Cook and the cast of Marvel’s Avengers franchise.

For years, Au has been paid an annual salary of just $1, with no bonus. That would only change, he said, once his company hit a market capitalisation of $1bn.

Happily for him, Regencell’s recent rally has left it worth more than eleven-times that paltry amount, with Au’s stonking 86.2 per cent stake meaning all those years of parsimony may finally be about to pay off. There is no suggestion that either the CEO or Regencell have anything to do with the stock’s unusual performance.

FT Alphaville reached out to Au but has yet to hear back. Nasdaq declined to comment. Regencell says none of the raw materials used in its treatments are sourced from endangered species of animals or plants.

Further reading:
— Fantastical goings-on in Nasdaq-listed Chinese micro-caps (FTAV)
— Yet more fantastical goings-on in Nasdaq-listed Chinese micro-caps (FTAV)