Cocrystal Pharma, Inc. (COCP): History, Ownership, Mission, How It Works & Makes Money

When you look at Cocrystal Pharma, Inc. (COCP), a clinical-stage biotech focused on novel antivirals, are you seeing a high-risk, high-reward play or a defintely undervalued platform? This company operates with a lean market capitalization of around $13 million, yet its mission-to use proprietary, structure-based technology to target major viral threats like influenza and norovirus-puts it squarely in a multibillion-dollar market space. You need to understand how a firm with only $7.7 million in unrestricted cash as of Q3 2025 is managing to advance its pipeline, especially after cutting its quarterly net loss from $4.93 million to $2.04 million year-over-year.

The story here isn't about massive revenue; it's about intellectual property and capital efficiency, evidenced by the recent $500,000 non-dilutive NIH SBIR award to advance its influenza program.

Cocrystal Pharma, Inc. (COCP) History

You're looking for the foundational story of Cocrystal Pharma, Inc., and honestly, it's a classic biotech tale of merging scientific brilliance with corporate structure. The company today is the result of a reverse merger that brought together a Nobel Laureate-backed drug discovery platform with a public shell, followed by a second key merger to expand the pipeline. It's a complex origin, but the current focus is razor-sharp: developing novel antivirals for major unmet needs like norovirus and influenza.

Given Company's Founding Timeline

Year established

The core technology and scientific team originated with Cocrystal Discovery, Inc., which began receiving initial funding and developing its platform in 2008. The legal entity that became the current public company, Biozone Pharmaceuticals, Inc., was founded earlier in 2006, but the 2014 reverse merger made Cocrystal Discovery the accounting acquirer.

Original location

The current headquarters is Bothell, WA (Washington). The original Cocrystal Discovery, Inc. was based on technology and expertise from institutions like Stanford University.

Founding team members

The company's scientific foundation rests on its co-founders and key early leaders, including:

• Dr. Roger D. Kornberg, Ph.D.: Nobel Laureate, Chief Scientific Officer, and Chairman of the Board, whose expertise anchors the company's structure-based drug discovery platform.
• Dr. Phillip Frost, M.D.: Co-founder and a Director, whose associated company, OPKO Health, Inc., was an early investor.
• Dr. Gary L. Wilcox: Chief Executive Officer and Co-Chairman of the Board following the initial 2014 reverse merger.

Initial capital/funding

Cocrystal Discovery, Inc. received its initial funding in 2008. After the January 2014 reverse merger, the newly formed Cocrystal Pharma, Inc. raised $2.75 million from eight accredited investors, including OPKO Health, Inc., in a private placement. This initial financing helped establish a cash and equivalents position of nearly $9.884 million as of March 31, 2014.

Given Company's Evolution Milestones

Given Company's Transformative Moments

The company's trajectory is defined by two major strategic decisions that essentially built the modern Cocrystal Pharma, Inc. The first was the initial reverse merger, which provided the capital market access needed to fund a capital-intensive drug discovery process. The second was the decision to pivot its focus toward high-value, unmet medical needs like norovirus, which currently has no FDA-approved treatment.

Here's the quick math on their current burn: for the first nine months of 2025, the company reported a net loss of $6.4 million, with R&D expenses at $3.4 million. This shows a deliberate, contained spend on their key pipeline assets, which is what you defintely want to see in a clinical-stage biotech.

• The Reverse Merger (Jan 2014): This was the pivotal corporate moment. By merging Cocrystal Discovery, Inc. with a public company, the scientific assets gained immediate access to public markets, accelerating development timelines far beyond what typical venture capital funding could support.
• The RFS Pharma Merger (Nov 2014): This move was all about intellectual property (IP) and talent, bringing in Dr. Schinazi's nucleoside chemistry expertise. It instantly broadened the product pipeline from five programs to a more diverse portfolio targeting multiple viral diseases.
• The 2025 Financial Reinforcement: The recent capital raises, including the $4.7 million September 2025 offering and the $1.03 million October 2025 private placement, were crucial for extending the cash runway. As of September 30, 2025, the company held $7.7 million in unrestricted cash, essential for advancing the norovirus program toward its Phase 1b challenge study in Q1 2026.

To dive deeper into the strategic intent behind these moves, you should review the Mission Statement, Vision, & Core Values of Cocrystal Pharma, Inc. (COCP).

Cocrystal Pharma, Inc. (COCP) Ownership Structure

Cocrystal Pharma, Inc. (COCP) operates with an ownership structure typical of a clinical-stage biotechnology company, where a significant portion of shares is held by insiders, reflecting high internal confidence, while the majority remains with retail investors.

This dynamic means that strategic decisions are heavily influenced by the founding and executive teams, but any major shift in retail sentiment can defintely impact the stock's volatility.

Cocrystal Pharma, Inc.'s Current Status

Cocrystal Pharma, Inc. is a publicly traded, clinical-stage biotechnology company focused on developing novel antiviral therapeutics. The company's stock is listed on the Nasdaq Capital Market (NasdaqCM) under the ticker symbol COCP.

As of November 2025, the company's market capitalization stood at approximately $14.20 million, with a float of 8.58 million shares, indicating a relatively small, highly volatile stock. The company is advancing its pipeline, notably with its norovirus program, CDI-988, which is preparing for a Phase 1b challenge study enrollment in early 2026.

Cocrystal Pharma, Inc.'s Ownership Breakdown

The company's ownership profile is heavily skewed toward individual and retail investors, but the substantial insider stake is what truly drives the governance structure. Here's the quick math on the breakdown based on the latest fiscal year data from November 2025.

The high insider ownership-36.05%-is a clear signal of management and board belief in the long-term value of the clinical-stage assets, but it also means fewer shares are actively traded by institutions, which can increase price sensitivity. For a deeper dive into the major institutional and insider movements, you can check out Exploring Cocrystal Pharma, Inc. (COCP) Investor Profile: Who's Buying and Why?

Cocrystal Pharma, Inc.'s Leadership

The company is steered by a seasoned leadership team with deep experience in anti-infective drug discovery and financial management for public health science firms. The average tenure of the management team is notably high, at 17.8 years.

• Sam Lee, Ph.D.: Co-Chief Executive Officer and President. Dr. Lee has over 25 years in anti-infective drug discovery, having previously managed projects at Icos Corporation.
• James J. Martin: Co-Chief Executive Officer and Chief Financial Officer. Mr. Martin brings over 25 years of finance and management experience, including CFO roles at other publicly traded health science companies.
• Roger Kornberg, Ph.D.: Chairman of the Board, Chief Scientist, and Chairman of the Scientific Advisory Board. Dr. Kornberg is a Nobel Laureate, providing significant scientific gravitas to the organization.

This dual-CEO structure, combining deep scientific expertise (Dr. Lee) with public company financial leadership (Mr. Martin), is designed to navigate the complex clinical and funding requirements of a biotech firm. The presence of high-profile directors like Phillip Frost, M.D., and Fred Hassan further solidifies the board's industry connections and strategic oversight.

Cocrystal Pharma, Inc. (COCP) Mission and Values

Cocrystal Pharma, Inc.'s core purpose is to tackle the global need for effective antiviral treatments, driving innovation through a proprietary, structure-based drug discovery platform. This mission defines its cultural DNA: scientific precision, capital efficiency, and a relentless focus on bringing first- and best-in-class therapies to market.

Cocrystal Pharma, Inc.'s Core Purpose

The company's commitment goes beyond simply developing drugs; it's about solving major, persistent public health problems like norovirus and influenza, where effective treatments are defintely lacking. You can see this focus in their financial strategy, like the reduction of Research and Development (R&D) expenses to $954,000 in Q3 2025, down from $3.24 million in the same period last year, showing a clear push for capital-efficient progress.

Official Mission Statement

The mission is centered on addressing significant unmet medical needs by developing innovative, safe, and effective antiviral treatments for challenging diseases, including influenza, viral gastroenteritis, COVID, and hepatitis. They do this by leveraging a unique, structure-based drug discovery technology platform.

• Develop novel therapeutics to meet a growing global need for safe antiviral treatments.
• Employ unique structure-based technologies and Nobel Prize-winning expertise.
• Create first- and best-in-class antiviral drugs that precisely disrupt viral replication.

This is a high-stakes, high-reward business, and their mission is their roadmap for managing that risk. For a deeper dive into who is backing this mission, read Exploring Cocrystal Pharma, Inc. (COCP) Investor Profile: Who's Buying and Why?

Vision Statement

Cocrystal Pharma's vision is to fundamentally transform how the world fights viral threats by engineering next-generation, broad-spectrum antivirals. This involves creating drugs designed to be safe, broad-spectrum, and resistant to viral mutations, targeting highly conserved regions of viral enzymes.

• Engineer next-generation, broad-spectrum antivirals.
• Advance multiple clinical programs efficiently, such as the norovirus candidate CDI-988.
• Maximize shareholder value by maintaining a capital-efficient business model.

The drive for efficiency is critical for a clinical-stage company; their unrestricted cash of $7.73 million as of September 30, 2025, supports their ongoing clinical development programs, but every dollar must count.

Cocrystal Pharma, Inc. Slogan/Tagline

While not a traditional advertising slogan, the company's public-facing identity is clearly defined by its area of expertise and its goal.

• Targeted Solutions for Viral Diseases.

This tagline neatly summarizes their scientific approach: using precision technology to attack the core replication machinery of viruses like norovirus, which has a $60 billion worldwide economic impact annually.

Cocrystal Pharma, Inc. (COCP) How It Works

Cocrystal Pharma, Inc. is a clinical-stage biotechnology company focused on discovering and developing novel, small-molecule antiviral drugs to treat serious viral diseases. It works by employing a proprietary, structure-based drug discovery platform to create broad-spectrum therapeutics that specifically target and disrupt the viral replication process, aiming for high resistance barriers.

You're looking for a clear line of sight on how a clinical-stage company like this generates value, and it boils down to intellectual property and pipeline advancement. They don't have commercial revenue yet, so their current financial value is built on the progress of their drug candidates, like the norovirus program, which is advancing toward a Phase 1b human challenge study in the first quarter of 2026.

Cocrystal Pharma, Inc.'s Product/Service Portfolio

Cocrystal Pharma, Inc.'s Operational Framework

The company's operational framework is a capital-efficient, outsourced research and development model, centered entirely on its unique drug discovery platform. They are a clinical-stage company, so their primary activity is advancing candidates through the FDA's clinical trial phases while managing cash burn.

Here's the quick math on their cost management: For the first nine months of 2025, the net loss was $6.4 million, which is a significant reduction from the $14.2 million net loss in the same period of 2024. This decrease stems from lower R&D expenses of $3.4 million and G&A expenses of $3.1 million for the first nine months of 2025. They are defintely focused on stretching their cash runway.

• Structure-Based Drug Design: Use proprietary structural biology and enzymology to map the 3-D structure of viral enzyme-inhibitor complexes at near-atomic resolution.
• Targeting Conserved Regions: Focus on critical components of viral replication proteins that are essential for function, making it harder for the virus to develop resistance through mutation.
• Clinical Advancement: Outsource clinical trials and manufacturing while retaining internal control over drug discovery and development strategy.
• Financing Strategy: Secure non-dilutive funding, like the NIH SBIR award, and utilize at-the-market financings to support the pipeline, such as the $4.7 million gross proceeds raised in September 2025.

Cocrystal Pharma, Inc.'s Strategic Advantages

Cocrystal Pharma's core advantage is its proprietary technology platform, which accelerates the drug discovery process and is designed to solve the persistent problem of viral resistance. This approach is the engine driving their pipeline and their ability to attract partnerships like the past collaboration with Merck. You can get a deeper dive into the ownership structure and investor sentiment here: Exploring Cocrystal Pharma, Inc. (COCP) Investor Profile: Who's Buying and Why?

• Proprietary Platform: A unique structure-based drug discovery technology, developed with Nobel Prize-winning expertise, that provides immediate insight to guide Structure Activity Relationships (SAR).
• High Barrier to Resistance: Drug candidates are specifically designed to target highly conserved (evolutionary-constrained) regions of viral enzymes, making it difficult for the virus to mutate and evade the drug.
• Broad-Spectrum Potential: The platform is engineered to develop candidates effective against the broadest possible range of viral strains, a key differentiator in the antiviral market.
• Liquidity Buffer: Unrestricted cash of $7.7 million as of September 30, 2025, bolstered by recent financings, provides runway to reach key clinical milestones, specifically the norovirus challenge study.

Finance: Track the Q4 2025 cash burn rate against the $7.7 million cash balance to project runway beyond Q1 2026.

Cocrystal Pharma, Inc. (COCP) How It Makes Money

Cocrystal Pharma, Inc. is a clinical-stage biotechnology company, so it currently generates virtually no revenue from commercial product sales. The company's financial engine is entirely focused on capital deployment for research and development (R&D), with its minimal revenue coming from interest earned on its cash reserves and non-dilutive government grants, not from selling antiviral drugs.

Cocrystal Pharma's Revenue Breakdown

As a pre-commercial business, Cocrystal Pharma's revenue profile for the 2025 fiscal year is highly atypical. For the nine months ended September 30, 2025, the company reported minimal revenue, primarily interest income, as the core business of developing and selling antiviral therapeutics has not yet reached the commercial stage. You are defintely looking at a pure R&D-driven model here.

Here's the quick math: the only reported non-financing income for the first nine months of 2025 was approximately $87 thousand in interest income. This is the entire revenue base. The real financial story is in the funding, not the revenue. You can find more detail on the capital structure in Exploring Cocrystal Pharma, Inc. (COCP) Investor Profile: Who's Buying and Why?

Business Economics

The core economics of Cocrystal Pharma are those of a high-risk, high-reward drug discovery enterprise. The company's value is derived from its intellectual property (IP)-its proprietary structure-based drug discovery platform-and the potential of its clinical pipeline, not its current cash flow.

• Pricing Strategy: The company currently has no commercial products, so there is no pricing strategy yet. The future pricing for lead candidates like CDI-988 (for norovirus) and CC-42344 (for influenza) will be a specialty pharmaceutical model, commanding premium prices due to addressing a significant unmet medical need.
• Market Opportunity: The target markets are substantial. Norovirus, for example, is a major cause of acute gastroenteritis with no FDA-approved treatment or prevention, representing a multi-billion-dollar opportunity. The global COVID-19 therapeutics market, another target for CDI-988, is estimated to exceed $16 billion annually by the end of 2031.
• Cost Structure: The business is capital-intensive and expense-heavy. The primary cost is Research and Development (R&D), which totaled $3.4 million for the first nine months of 2025. This is the cost of buying future revenue.
• Funding Model: The company relies on non-dilutive funding, like the $500,000 NIH SBIR award granted in October 2025, and more significantly, on equity financing. In September 2025, they raised $4.7 million in gross proceeds from a registered direct offering. This is the lifeblood of a clinical-stage biotech.

Cocrystal Pharma's Financial Performance

The company's financial health is measured by its burn rate and cash runway, not its profitability. The trend for the first nine months of 2025 shows a significant reduction in cash burn compared to the previous year, which is a positive sign of capital efficiency.

• Net Loss: For the first nine months of 2025, the company reported a net loss of approximately $6.4 million, a substantial improvement from the $14.2 million net loss reported in the same period of 2024.
• Cash Position: Unrestricted cash stood at $7.7 million as of September 30, 2025. This is the critical number for a biotech at this stage; it dictates how long development can continue.
• Operating Cash Flow: Net cash used in operating activities for the first nine months of 2025 was $6.5 million, down sharply from $13.3 million in the prior year. This halving of the cash burn is a key indicator of management's focus on capital-efficient operations.
• Expense Control: R&D expenses were reduced to $3.4 million for the first nine months of 2025, down from $10.5 million in the same period of 2024. This decrease is primarily due to the timing of clinical study costs as trials that started in 2024 were winding down in 2025.

Cocrystal Pharma, Inc. (COCP) Market Position & Future Outlook

Cocrystal Pharma, Inc. is positioned as a high-risk, high-reward clinical-stage biotechnology company whose future is entirely tied to its antiviral drug pipeline, specifically the norovirus and influenza programs. The company's strategy hinges on advancing its lead candidate, CDI-988, toward the $60 billion global norovirus market, which currently has no approved treatments.

The near-term outlook is driven by clinical milestones, with the company operating on a tight cash runway, reporting an unrestricted cash balance of $7.7 million as of September 30, 2025.

Competitive Landscape

Cocrystal Pharma operates in the highly competitive antiviral therapeutics space, where its influenza program, CC-42344, must compete with established, multi-billion-dollar products. Given its clinical-stage status, the company holds 0% market share, but its proprietary structure-based platform offers a distinct mechanical advantage over legacy drugs like Tamiflu (oseltamivir) by targeting the core viral replication machinery.

Opportunities & Challenges

The company's opportunities are centered on addressing significant unmet medical needs, while its challenges are typical of a small-cap, pre-revenue biotech. The norovirus program, CDI-988, is the defintely most compelling near-term value driver.

Industry Position

Cocrystal Pharma is a micro-cap player in the biotechnology sector, with a market capitalization of approximately $10.57 million as of November 14, 2025.

• The company's core asset is its Nobel Prize-winning structure-based drug discovery platform, which is designed to create broad-spectrum antivirals that are less prone to viral resistance than older drugs.
• Its position is that of an innovator focused on 'first-in-class' treatments, directly contrasting with the established, but sometimes resistance-prone, standard-of-care drugs like oseltamivir.
• The recent non-dilutive funding, including a $500,000 NIH SBIR award in October 2025, validates the scientific merit of its influenza program and helps extend the cash runway.
• The company is focused on high-value, unmet medical needs, as detailed in the Mission Statement, Vision, & Core Values of Cocrystal Pharma, Inc. (COCP).