aibioEstrella Immunopharma gets Nasdaq minimum bid price notice, has until February 16, 2027 to comply
Tickers ESLA
Nasdaq notified Estrella on August 17, 2026 that its stock closed below $1.00 for 30 consecutive business days. The company has 180 calendar days, until February 16, 2027, to regain compliance. Its year-end 2025 cash was $1.4 million.
Key facts
- Company
- Estrella Immunopharma, Inc. (NASDAQ: ESLA)
- News type
- Listings
- Primary source
- Estrella Immunopharma, Inc. Form 8-K filed August 21, 2026 (SEC EDGAR)
Estrella Immunopharma, Inc. (Nasdaq: ESLA) said in a Form 8-K filed August 21, 2026 that Nasdaq has told it the company no longer meets the $1.00 minimum bid price for continued listing on The Nasdaq Capital Market. The company received the notice on August 17, 2026. It says the closing bid price of the common stock was below $1.00 for 30 consecutive business days, from July 6, 2026 through August 14, 2026. The company filed the report under Item 3.01, the item for notices of delisting or failure to satisfy a continued listing rule. Chief Financial Officer Peter Xu signed it.
What the notice requires
The letter came from Nasdaq's Listing Qualifications Department under Nasdaq Listing Rule 5550(a)(2). It has no immediate effect on trading. The common stock continues to trade as ESLA, subject to the company's compliance with Nasdaq's other continued listing requirements.
To regain compliance, the closing bid price must be at least $1.00 per share for a minimum of ten consecutive business days during the compliance period. Under Nasdaq Listing Rule 5810(c)(3)(A), the initial period is 180 calendar days, until February 16, 2027. Nasdaq may, in its discretion, require compliance for a longer stretch, generally no more than 20 consecutive business days.
The reverse split route and the appeal path
A reverse stock split is one way to cure the deficiency. If Estrella chooses one, the split must be completed no later than ten business days before the February 16, 2027 date. The 8-K does not say whether the company plans a reverse split.
If the company does not regain compliance by that date, it may get an additional 180-calendar-day period. To qualify, it must meet the continued listing requirement for the market value of publicly held shares and the other initial listing standards for The Nasdaq Capital Market, apart from the bid price test. It must also notify Nasdaq in writing that it intends to cure the deficiency during the second period, including by a reverse split if needed.
If the company does not qualify, or Nasdaq concludes it cannot cure the deficiency, Nasdaq will notify Estrella that its common stock is subject to delisting. The company could then appeal to a Nasdaq hearings panel.
What the company says
Estrella says it intends to monitor the closing bid price and evaluate available options to regain compliance. It also says there can be no assurance it will regain compliance within the compliance period, or keep meeting Nasdaq's continued listing requirements. The 8-K does not describe a specific plan, a timetable or a source of funding.
The balance sheet behind the listing
The company's annual report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2025, filed March 18, 2026, reports a net loss of $13.1 million and research and development expense of $10.2 million. Year-end 2025 cash and cash equivalents were $1.4 million. The company's earlier annual report, for the fiscal year ended June 30, 2024, reported a net loss of $7.3 million.
The 10-K states that recurring losses and the need for more financing raise substantial doubt about the company's ability to continue as a going concern, and that it will need substantial additional funding.
The science
Estrella calls itself a clinical-stage company developing T-cell therapies for cancers and autoimmune diseases. Its lead candidate, EB103, a CD19-directed ARTEMIS T-cell therapy, is in the dose expansion portion of the STARLIGHT-1 Phase I/II trial in relapsed or refractory B-cell Non-Hodgkin's lymphomas. The company says the Phase I part, with nine patients, reported no treatment-related serious adverse events and a 100% complete response rate at Month 1 among evaluable patients in the high-dose cohort, a small, early, uncontrolled group. The company expects to complete the Phase II portion in 1H2027.
What comes next
The company has until February 16, 2027 to show ten consecutive business days of closing bid prices at or above $1.00. A reverse split, if one is used, must be completed by the tenth business day before that date. If it does not qualify, a delisting notice and an appeal to a hearings panel would follow.