Aardvark Therapeutics, Inc. (AARD)

Price$5.38Cached quoteAs of 2026-09-05 01:16 UTC

AI: Fair-priced

Cash backing offsets a heavily impaired pipeline valuationAt the latest completed Nasdaq session, AARD closed at $5.15 with a reported market capitalization of about $112.68 million, versus $73.9 million of cash, cash equivalents and short-term investments at June 30, 2026.

Using the reported 21,884,846 shares outstanding at July 31, cash and investments were about $3.38 per share. The roughly $38.8 million difference between market capitalization and reported cash leaves a relatively modest implied value for the operating pipeline, but that discount is justified in part by the unresolved FDA hold and terminated pivotal trials. The resulting risk/reward supports a Fair-priced verdict rather than a clear bargain or premium valuation.

Liquidity is meaningful, but the company remains loss-makingAardvark reported no product revenue, a $14.387 million Q2 2026 net loss and $36.468 million of operating cash used during the first six months of 2026.

At June 30, the company reported $73.9 million of cash, cash equivalents and short-term investments, $81.46 million of total assets and $6.663 million of total liabilities. Management said its revised operating plan should fund projected operations into late 2027. That runway is a material cushion, although a restarted or redesigned late-stage clinical program could change future spending requirements.

ARD-101 remains the dominant binary clinical riskThe FDA full clinical hold on ARD-101 remains the key value constraint; the Phase 3 HERO and OLE trials were terminated in June 2026 and are not intended to resume as previously designed.

The pause followed reversible cardiac observations in an ARD-101 healthy-volunteer study; the company states those observations were not reported as serious adverse events. Aardvark is performing FDA-requested safety work and assessing unblinded HERO/OLE efficacy and safety data to decide whether a redesigned PWS program is justified. Further development depends on removal of the hold, FDA alignment on a new trial, supportive program data and adequate financing. ARD-201's POWER and STRENGTH obesity programs are also paused because ARD-201 contains ARD-101.

Financing capacity protects liquidity but creates dilution overhangAardvark has substantial authorized financing capacity relative to its current equity value.

Its March 2026 Form S-3 permits offerings of up to $400 million, and an equity distribution agreement permits up to $150 million of common-stock sales through an ATM facility; no ATM shares had been sold as of June 30. Additional equity could therefore materially dilute holders if capital is needed to restart development. The company also disclosed up to approximately $180.5 million of contingent future regulatory and commercial milestone payments under acquired-IP agreements if specified milestones are achieved.

AI: News

Q2 update left the ARD-101 path unresolvedOn August 11, Aardvark said it was assessing unblinded HERO and OLE data during Q3 2026 while remaining in discussions with the FDA over the full ARD-101 clinical hold.

The company confirmed that HERO and its open-label extension had been terminated in June and would not resume as originally designed. It reported $73.9 million of cash and investments and projected runway into late 2027. As of September 17, no newer company announcement located in the live search reported removal of the hold or disclosed new HERO efficacy results.

Securities litigation and a pre-arranged insider sale are additional developmentA securities class action was reported filed in August, while CFO and COO Nelson Sun subsequently disclosed September stock sales executed under a previously adopted Rule 10b5-1 plan.

The lawsuit, filed in the Southern District of California, alleges that defendants misrepresented or omitted information concerning ARD-101 safety and its clinical, regulatory and commercial prospects; these are allegations, not adjudicated findings. A September 11 SEC Form 4 shows Sun sold 14,754 shares on September 10 at a weighted-average $5.0006 and 62,000 shares on September 11 at $5.1803, retaining 35,475 directly held shares. The transactions were made under a Rule 10b5-1 plan adopted June 11, 2026, limiting the usefulness of the sale as a contemporaneous signal.

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Revenue

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Total cash / debt

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Financial statements

	2025	2024	2023	2022
Revenue	$0	$0	$0	$0
Research & development	$48.9M	$17.4M	$4.5M	$7.2M
Operating expenses	$62.7M	$22.8M	$6.7M	$10.9M
Operating income	−$62.7M	−$22.8M	−$6.7M	−$10.9M
EBITDA	−$62.7M	−$22.8M	−$6.7M	−$10.8M
Net income	−$57.6M	−$20.6M	−$7.2M	−$13.6M
Basic EPSper basic share	-$2.93	-$5.15	-$0.56	-$1.39
Diluted EPSper diluted share	-$2.93	-$5.15	-$0.56	-$1.39

Review official source filings ↗

Owners

Reported shareholders

Reference date Jun 30, 2026

≈17.90%of listed shares

Decheng Capital Global Life Sciences Fund IV, L.P. / Decheng Capital Global Healthcare Fund (Master), LP / Decheng Capital Global Healthcare GP, LLC / Cui Xiangmin / Decheng Capital Management IV (Cayman), LLC3.92M shares · Feb 14, 2025

View holders

Top 20 reported holders of AARD
Holder	% owned
Decheng Capital Global Life Sciences Fund IV, L.P. / Decheng Capital Global Healthcare Fund (Master), LP / Decheng Capital Global Healthcare GP, LLC / Cui Xiangmin / Decheng Capital Management IV (Cayman), LLC	≈17.90%3.92M shares
Decheng Capital LLC	17.90%3.92M shares
Lee Tien-Li	≈13.83%3.03M shares
Vickers Venture Fund VI Pte Ltd	≈9.37%2.05M shares
CITADEL ADVISORS LLC	5.86%1.28M shares
Laurion Capital Management LP	4.73%1.03M shares
Chen Bihua / Cormorant Asset Management, LP	—987.69K shares
VANGUARD CAPITAL MANAGEMENT LLC	2.57%562.88K shares
AQR CAPITAL MANAGEMENT LLC	2.19%480.25K shares
EcoR1 Capital, LLC	1.81%396.19K shares
ADAGE CAPITAL PARTNERS GP, L.L.C.	1.37%300K shares
CANTOR FITZGERALD, L. P.	1.07%233.16K shares
BlackRock, Inc.	0.85%187.05K shares
GEODE CAPITAL MANAGEMENT, LLC	0.68%149.84K shares
Chi Jeffrey	≈0.61%133.36K shares
Sun Nelson	≈0.50%108.48K shares
TWO SIGMA INVESTMENTS, LP	0.50%108.38K shares
RAYMOND JAMES FINANCIAL INC	0.36%79.28K shares
VANGUARD FIDUCIARY TRUST CO	0.34%75.17K shares
Woodline Partners LP	0.33%72.43K shares

Percentages use 21.88M shares of this listed class outstanding on Jun 30, 2026. ≈ compares the latest reported holding with a share total from a different date; it is not a confirmed current stake.

Gray completes the 100% scale. Reported positions may overlap; holders have different reporting dates.

Source: SEC Form 4 ↗Updated Sep 29, 2026 · Quarterly data

Insider buys & sells

Jul 1, 2024–Jun 30, 2026

Buys13$23.87M disclosed value

Sells (SEC code S)0$0.00 disclosed value

Transaction	Insider	Type	Shares	Price	Value	Owned after
Dec 11, 2025Form 4	Sun NelsonChief Financial Officer	BuyCommon Stock	3.0K	$14.40	$43.2K	108.5K
Dec 11, 2025Form 4	Lee Tien-LiChief Executive Officer	BuyCommon Stock	7.0K	$14.49	$101.4K	1.55M
Sep 15, 2025Form 4	Lee Tien-LiChief Executive Officer	BuyCommon Stock	3.5K	$9.94	$34.8K	1.54M
Sep 15, 2025Form 4	Lee Tien-LiChief Executive Officer	BuyCommon Stock	6.5K	$9.51	$61.8K	1.54M
Sep 12, 2025Form 4	Lee Tien-LiChief Executive Officer	BuyCommon Stock	5.0K	$8.50	$42.5K	1.53M

Review ownership filings at SEC.gov ↗

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Aardvark Therapeutics, Inc. (AARD)

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