Cocrystal Pharma Inc (OTCBB:COCP) has been very quiet, after the company presented an update during the Jefferies 2015 Healthcare Conference. The company is working towards developing novel antiviral therapeutics for treatment of chronic diseases. The technology in this regard has been developed by the company’s CSO, Dr. Roger Kornberg. However, the majority of attention the company has had recently is due to the buying of 100 million shares by Dr. Philip Frost.
Mr. Philip Frost is a billionaire, known for keeping an eye out for potentially profitable companies. His large investment in COCP adds more value to the stock. Furthermore, the company also has the honor of having a CSO with a Nobel Prize for his work. Dr. Korenberg’s work towards visualizing RNA polymerase in action is the key technology behind Cocrystal’s therapies. Additionally, the company also boasts Dr. Schinazi as a valuable asset. He has vast experience in founding and co-founding novel pharmaceutical companies and is an expert in nucleoside therapeutics.
However, having valuable assets from both the business and the medical end of the pharmaceuticals industry is certainly not enough to gain investor interest. The company needs to develop a product and fast. Currently, COCP has been involved in using Dr. Korenberg’s technology to identify certain parts of the enzymes. Once identified, COCP plans to develop drugs to target and block the function of these enzymes. This is so the viral infections do not get a chance to replicate and be destroyed in their initial stages.
As far as the finances of the company are concerned, COCP has been conducting research mostly on grants. Recently, the company received $27,000 in funding from the University of Mississippi. However, this was only a small part of the $1.56 million spent on R&D for the 1Q2015. Most of these expenses were personal, rather than specifically for the research. So financially, COCP is not doing very well for itself.
Cocrystal Pharma Inc (OTCBB:COCP) lost 1.72% of its share value after trading 673.62 million shares during the June 16 session, to close at $1.14.
