aibioMoleculin Biotech gets Nasdaq staff determination on bid price, plans hearing request
Tickers MBRX
Nasdaq staff says Moleculin is not eligible for a compliance period because it effected a 1-for-25 reverse stock split on December 1, 2025. The company plans to request a hearing, which stays any delisting action while it is pending.
Key facts
- Company
- Moleculin Biotech, Inc. (NASDAQ: MBRX)
- News type
- Listings
- Primary source
- Moleculin Biotech, Inc. Form 8-K filed September 18, 2026 (SEC EDGAR)
Moleculin Biotech, Inc. (Nasdaq: MBRX) said on September 18, 2026 that Nasdaq staff has determined its stock no longer meets the minimum bid price for The Nasdaq Capital Market. Companies in that position normally get a 180-calendar day compliance period to regain compliance. Moleculin will not get one. The staff says a reverse stock split the company completed in the prior year makes it ineligible.
The company disclosed the letter in a Form 8-K filed September 18, 2026 under Item 3.01, Notice of Delisting or Failure to Satisfy a Continued Listing Rule or Standard. Jonathan P. Foster, its chief financial officer, signed the filing.
The staff determination
Moleculin received the Staff Determination Letter from the Listing Qualifications Department of The Nasdaq Stock Market LLC on September 15, 2026. The staff found that the closing bid price of its common stock, par value $0.001 per share, had been below $1.00 for the previous 30 consecutive business days, from July 31, 2026 through September 11, 2026. That puts the company out of compliance with Nasdaq Listing Rule 5550(a)(2).
Why there is no compliance period
Under Nasdaq Listing Rule 5810(c)(3)(A)(iv), the staff determined that the company is not eligible for any compliance period, because it effected a reverse stock split in the prior one-year period. The company had already disclosed a 1-for-25 reverse split of its common stock on December 1, 2025. A reverse split combines existing shares into fewer shares, which raises the price per share on paper. Even so, the shares have traded below $1.00 since July 31, 2026.
The hearing request
Moleculin intends to request a hearing before the Nasdaq Hearings Panel under the Nasdaq Listing Rule 5800 Series. A timely hearing request stays any suspension or delisting action until the Panel decides, and the stock will keep trading on The Nasdaq Capital Market while the process runs. The company's own filing says there is no assurance the Panel will grant continued listing, or that Moleculin will regain and keep compliance with the bid price rule or the other continued listing requirements. The Panel may also deny the request or attach conditions the company may not be able to meet.
The trial behind the stock
In its annual report on Form 10-K filed March 18, 2026, Moleculin describes Annamycin as a next-generation anthracycline. It is being tested in a pivotal trial, called MIRACLE, in combination with cytarabine for relapsed or refractory acute myeloid leukemia. The company says a blinded preliminary data readout has been released. It expected an interim unblinding of data in mid-2026 and an additional unblinding in the second half of 2026, which would conclude Part A of the two-part trial. The company says that early visibility is unusual for a pivotal, registration-enabling trial.
That unblinding was due in mid-2026, before this notice. Neither the 8-K nor the 10-K's forward timetable reports its results, so the notice leaves open what the trial has shown so far. The company also says its three core technologies are based substantially on discoveries made at, made in conjunction with, or licensed from the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston.
The money
The 10-K reports no revenue for 2025 or 2024. Its net loss widened to $33.6 million in 2025 from $26.0 million in 2024. Research and development expense was $15.9 million in 2025, down from $17.7 million. Cash used in operations was $22.7 million in 2025, compared with $23.9 million in 2024.
The company had $4.3 million of cash and cash equivalents at the end of 2024, against $23.9 million of cash used in operations that year. The auditor's report in the 10-K includes a going concern paragraph. It says the company has an accumulated deficit of $206.0 million since inception and has not generated any revenue from operations, and that these conditions raise substantial doubt about its ability to continue as a going concern.
The 8-K does not mention any financing or a current cash balance. Walter V. Klemp signed the 10-K as chief executive officer and chairman.