aibioCocrystal sells $5 million of stock to OPKO Health
OPKO Health, a longtime shareholder, buys 5,474,053 shares at $0.9134 each in a private placement with no warrants attached.
Key facts
- Companies
- Cocrystal Pharma, Inc. (NASDAQ: COCP), OPKO HEALTH, INC. (NASDAQ: OPK)
- News type
- Financings
- Primary source
- Cocrystal Pharma, Inc. 8-K (2026-08-03)
Cocrystal Pharma, Inc. (Nasdaq: COCP) said on August 3, 2026 that OPKO Health, Inc. (Nasdaq: OPK) will invest $5 million in the company through a private placement. Under the agreement, Cocrystal sold 5,474,053 shares of its common stock to OPKO at a price of $0.9134 per share. That price is the Nasdaq Consolidated Bid Price on the trading day of closing. Proceeds to the company are $5.0 million. No warrants or other derivative securities were included in the transaction.
The terms
The unregistered shares were offered under Section 4(a)(2) of the Securities Act of 1933 and Regulation D. The release says the shares may not be offered or sold in the United States except under an effective registration statement or an applicable exemption from registration.
The release describes OPKO as a longtime investor that has increased its position through this purchase. Dr. Phillip Frost, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of OPKO Health, is also co-founder, director and principal stockholder of Cocrystal. In the release, he says the additional investment reflects continued conviction in the company's science and its path forward. The buyer is therefore run by the company's own co-founder and principal stockholder, not a new outside backer, so the placement says little about outside demand for the stock.
The filing names no underwriter or placement agent for the transaction. The release lists Russo Partners only as the company's investor and media relations contact.
The company and its lead program
Cocrystal describes itself as a clinical-stage biotechnology company discovering and developing novel antiviral therapeutics as treatments for serious and/or chronic viral diseases. Its annual report for the year ended December 31, 2025 says the company uses structure-based technologies to design direct-acting antiviral drug candidates. Those candidates target required steps in the viral replication process.
The company's programs cover influenza virus, norovirus, coronaviruses and hepatitis C virus. The company says its structure-based drug design was developed under Dr. Roger Kornberg, its Chief Scientist and Chairman, who received the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 2006.
The lead program is CDI-988, which is in a Phase 1b clinical trial for norovirus. The release says topline data are expected in late 2026. In the release, Chief Executive Officer James Sapirstein says: "We expect to report topline data from our Phase 1b norovirus trial by the end of the fourth quarter of 2026."
Financial position
The XBRL data in the annual report show research and development expense of $5.1 million for fiscal 2025, compared with $12.5 million for fiscal 2024. The net loss was $8.8 million in 2025, compared with $17.5 million in 2024. Cash used in operations was $8.2 million in 2025, compared with $16.5 million in 2024.
Cash and cash equivalents at the end of 2025 were $7.0 million, compared with $9.9 million at the end of 2024. The company is still burning cash: the $5.0 million raised sits beside $8.2 million of cash used in operations in 2025. The price of $0.9134 is below $1 a share, and the 5,474,053 new shares add to the share count. The sources give no total share count, so the size of the dilution is not stated. The release does not state a cash balance after the placement closes, and this story does not estimate one.
What comes next
The company says it expects topline data from its Phase 1b norovirus trial by the end of the fourth quarter of 2026. The release says Cocrystal continues to develop its influenza, coronavirus and hepatitis C programs but gives no dates for them.
The release reports no clinical results. A Phase 1b trial is an early-stage study, and the release gives no enrollment figure, so a topline readout would be a first look at the drug in patients, not proof it works. The release's own risk language lists the potential for adverse findings, early-stage research on a related virus that was not done in animals, competitors' treatments financed by the U.S. government, and viruses that mutate and resist a candidate. It also names "our liquidity and ability to raise necessary capital on acceptable terms or at all" as a risk, which is a plain signal that more financing may be needed.