A 17,000% gain with no revenue — how did this happen?
One of the most interesting and incredible stock stories of 2025 was the meteoric rise of a pharma stock with no revenue.
The stock is Regencell Bioscience (NASDAQ:RGC), and it has returned an astronomical 17,000%-plus in 2025, with a market cap of about $11 billion.
Regencell is a Hong Kong-based company that “focuses on research, development and commercialization of Traditional Chinese Medicine for the global treatment of neurocognitive disorder and degeneration,” specifically attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and autism spectrum disorder (ASD).
The company, according to its 20-F SEC filing, is in the research and development stage and has not yet generated any revenue since inception – or since its IPO in 2021.
“We have funded our operations to date primarily through proceeds from our initial public offering of our ordinary shares. We have no saleable products and have not generated any revenue from product sales,” the filing says. We have incurred operating losses since our formation. We incurred total net losses of $3.58 million and $4.36 million, respectively, for the fiscal years ended June 30, 2025 and 2024.”
All losses have resulted from costs related to its development programs as well as general and administrative costs.
“We expect to continue to incur research and development expenses in the future as we continue the advancement of our efficacy trials and as we potentially pursue additional indications,” the filing says. “We may also incur expenses in connection with third-party trials involving our TCM formula or other intellectual property. In addition, if we obtain marketing approval for any of our TCM formula, we may initially incur significant outsourced sales, marketing and manufacturing expenses, as well as continued research and development expenses. As a result, we expect to continue to incur increasing operating losses for the foreseeable future.”
38-for-1 stock split boosts stock price
Despite its lack of revenue and earnings, the stock price has gone through the roof, rising some 17,000% in 2025 to $23 per share. Here’s how it got there.
Regencell has what is called a low public float, meaning there are very few publicly available shares. The founder and CEO, Yat-Gai Au owns 88.6% of the shares and company insiders own about 89% of the outstanding shares – so only about 56 million of the 494 million outstanding shares are available in the public float.
This was one of the reasons that the stock drove so much higher. It took off due to several factors, including algorithmic trading and AI bots, which may have flagged it for its low float. It also surged from buzz on social media sites about the promise of its mission of using traditional Chinese medicine for ADHD and ASD and some early trials.
The share price had risen to about $595 per share in June of this year, and then another catalyst hit – a 38-for-1 stock split. That means for every share owned, the shareholder would get 38 shares priced at $16 per share.
The split made the stock cheaper to buy and that generated excitement around the stock as more investors bought in. This jolted the stock split price of $16 per share up to more than $70 per share in mid-June. The stock price soon crashed back down, but it mostly stayed in the $14 per share to $17 per share range until a recent surge brought it up to its current $23 per share price.
It should be noted that the company is being investigated by the US Department of Justice “into the trading in our ordinary shares. The DOJ has requested the production of documents and communications concerning these and other corporate operational, financial and accounting matters. We are cooperating with this investigation, but we cannot predict its ultimate resolution,” the filing said.
It has certainly been a wild ride for Regencell, but investors should be extremely cautious given its lack of revenue or earnings, its volatile nature, and its lack of analyst coverage – in addition to the DOJ probe.
