You read right. US$47.7m MC. But the US$100m raise was announced...

You read right. US$47.7m MC. But the US$100m raise was announced after hours so impact is still to be seen. The day before the announcement the MC was just US$27.9m, not much more than COH.

The market cap seems shockingly low, especially in light of the commonly expressed view on HC that stocks in the US are always valued so much higher than on the ASX.

But the low valuation reflects a troubled history for Regulus.

The company’s market cap peaked at US$1bn + in 2015 when Regulus had multiple programs under development and collaborations with the likes of Sanofi, GSK and Biogen.

First, a clinical program in HCV, working in conjunction with GSK, was discontinued in 2017 after an extended clinical hold was imposed by the FDA due to safety concerns.

Regulus then opted in 2021 to discontinue an earlier program in ADPKD due to toxicity concerns.

In 2022, Sanofi opted to walk following Phase 2 testing of another asset in the kidney disease, Alport Syndrome.

Other programs have also been culled, possibly due to financial constraint, and RGLS8429 for the treatment of ADPKD is now the solitary clinical or preclinical program.

Still, on the basis of these latest early results (which, by the way, Wilsons is saying do not clearly demonstrate efficacy due to flawed data), investors were quickly willing to put in US$100m @ US$1.60 per share.

If Regulus manages to finally make a break through with this program, there are some investors who stand to make a lot of money.