Quoin Pharmaceuticals regains compliance with Nasdaq $1.00 minimum bid price rule

The Nasdaq notice

Quoin Pharmaceuticals Ltd. received written notice on April 29, 2025 from the Listing Qualifications staff of The Nasdaq Stock Market, LLC that it has regained compliance with Nasdaq Listing Rule 5550(a)(2). That rule requires companies on the Nasdaq Capital Market to keep a minimum bid price of $1.00 per ADS. The company reported the notice in an 8-K dated April 29, 2025 and signed on April 30 by Dr. Michael Myers, chief executive officer.

Nasdaq's notice says that from April 9 to April 28, 2025, the closing bid price of the company's ADSs was $1.00 per share or greater. On that basis Nasdaq found the company back in compliance and closed the matter. The window is short. The notice does not say how long the ADSs traded below $1.00 before April 9, and it does not say whether they have stayed above that level since April 28.

The listed security

The listed security is the American Depositary Share, not the ordinary share. Each ADS represents thirty-five ordinary shares of the company, which is incorporated in the State of Israel. The ADSs trade under the symbol QNRX on Nasdaq. The ordinary shares are not listed for trading and are registered only in connection with the ADS registration. The company's principal executive office is at 42127 Pleasant Forest Court in Ashburn, Virginia.

The business behind the listing

The company's annual report describes Quoin as a late-stage clinical specialty pharmaceutical company focused on rare and orphan diseases. Its lead product, QRX003, is a topical lotion being developed for Netherton Syndrome, a rare hereditary genetic disease. The report says the disease affects approximately 6,000 to 8,000 patients combined in the United States and Europe. The active ingredient is a broad-spectrum serine protease inhibitor, and the lotion uses Invisicare polymer delivery technology licensed from Skinvisible Pharmaceuticals.

QRX003 is being tested in three regulatory clinical studies under an open Investigational New Drug application with the Food and Drug Administration. The company has opened five clinical sites in the United States and plans a sixth at Northwestern University. The report also describes a pediatric patient being treated at the Children's Hospital in Dublin, Ireland, and a first subject being treated in New Zealand for Peeling Skin Syndrome. The Dublin study is described in the singular, as one pediatric patient.

The company says it believes it is "the only company that is actively dosing subjects in multiple NS clinical studies under an open IND with the FDA." The report also acknowledges that several other companies are pursuing treatments for the same disease. The annual report's business description gives no efficacy data from any of these studies.

The rest of the pipeline is earlier. QRX004 is a potential treatment for recessive dystrophic epidermolysis bullosa. QRX007, a bi-functional protein aimed at Netherton Syndrome, is in preclinical testing under a research agreement with the Queensland University of Technology, which gives the company an option to license it. QRX008, a potential scleroderma treatment, is at early-stage development by that university. A June 10, 2024 research agreement with University College Cork funds topical rapamycin formulations over an anticipated 2-1/2 years, with an option to advance clinical development afterward. The company says the agreement requires no upfront license or milestone fees and no royalties on future sales.

Financial position

The annual report says that no products have been commercialized and no revenue has been generated to date. The 8-K gives no cash, net loss or share count figures. The notice settles only the period it covers.

What comes next

The report says the company intends to open a sixth clinical site at Northwestern University and to expand trials into the Middle East, the United Kingdom and additional countries in Europe, including Spain and Germany. It also plans to expand the Dublin study to more children in Spain, the United Kingdom and other countries. The notice sets no further dates for the Nasdaq listing, and the annual report gives no timetable for the QRX007 or QRX008 programs.

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QNRXQuoin Pharmaceuticals, Ltd.NASDAQ · United StatesOpen the starter desk