aibioHCW Biologics faces Nasdaq suspension over equity rule and plans to request a hearing
Tickers HCWB
Nasdaq says HCW Biologics was out of compliance with its equity rule on June 30, 2025. The shares would be suspended on August 28 unless the company asks for a hearing by August 26.
Key facts
- Company
- HCW Biologics Inc. (NASDAQ: HCWB)
- News type
- Listings
- Primary source
- HCW Biologics Inc. 8-K (2025-08-19)
The notice
HCW Biologics Inc. (Nasdaq: HCWB) said in a Form 8-K filed on August 19, 2025 that the Listing Qualifications Staff of The Nasdaq Stock Market had found it out of compliance with the equity rule for continued listing on the Nasdaq Capital Market, Listing Rule 5550(b)(1). The finding is measured as of June 30, 2025. The company, based in Miramar, Florida, received the written notice that day.
Under the notice, the company's securities would be suspended from trading on August 28, 2025 unless HCW requests a hearing before the Nasdaq Hearing Panel by August 26, 2025. The 8-K is signed by Hing C. Wong, the company's founder and chief executive officer.
The company says it plans to request a hearing in time, which would stay the suspension until the hearing process ends. HCW also says it is considering all options available to regain compliance with the equity rule. It adds that there can be no assurance the panel will grant continued listing, or that the company will show compliance within whatever period the panel sets.
A compliance finding that did not last
The June 26 finding did not hold. On June 26, 2025, HCW announced that Nasdaq had found it in compliance with the same equity rule. Nasdaq also placed the company under a Panel Monitor for one year, through June 23, 2026. That monitor changes how a new failure is handled. If HCW falls out of compliance with the equity rule during the monitor period, it will not be offered a compliance plan for staff review. It must request a hearing before the panel instead.
The June 30 test date fell within the monitor period, so the company cannot submit a plan to the staff and must go to the panel.
The filing does not say how the company intends to restore its equity, whether it plans to raise capital, or how much equity it reported at June 30, 2025. It also gives no date by which the panel is expected to decide.
The company and its programs
The company's 2024 annual report, filed in March 2025, describes HCW as a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company developing immunotherapies for diseases it links to chronic inflammation. It says its lead clinical product candidates are in autoimmune disorders, solid tumors and quality-of-life conditions, and that many of its other programs will be moved to partners through licensing.
The company has two discovery platforms. The older TOBI platform uses a tissue factor scaffold to build fusion proteins. The TRBC platform, which the company calls its second-generation approach, is designed to produce multi-specific cytokines, checkpoint inhibitors and immune-cell engagers. The lead clinical compound named in the report is HCW9302, an injectable interleukin 2 fusion protein. The FDA cleared a Phase 1 study of that compound in alopecia areata, and the company says it would expand to other indications only after that study ends.
The annual report also says the company's founder discovered Anktiva, also known as ALT-803, which was sold to ImmunityBio, Inc. in 2017 in a $1.0 billion acquisition. The FDA approved Anktiva for a bladder cancer indication in 2024. HCW's own clinical programs are at an earlier stage than that approved product.
Legal history
The annual report also describes a settlement with ImmunityBio and related parties. As of July 13, 2024, HCW, Dr. Hing C. Wong, Altor BioScience, LLC, NantCell, Inc. and ImmunityBio, Inc. entered into a Settlement Agreement that ended an arbitration. The settlement involved intellectual property HCW developed on its TOBI platform. The report says the settlement removed the uncertainty of the arbitration's outcome.
What comes next
The 8-K sets two dates: August 26, 2025, the deadline to request a hearing, and August 28, 2025, the date trading would be suspended without one. The company says it plans to request a hearing, which would stay the suspension. The 8-K gives no hearing date and names no step the company will take to meet the equity rule.