Cocrystal Pharma (COCP.Q) announced today that its SARS-CoV-2 3CL protease lead CDI-45205 and several analogs showed potent in vitro activity against the SARS-CoV-2 Delta and Gamma variants.
“These in vitro SARS-CoV-2 results further indicate that Cocrystal’s SARS-CoV-2 3CL protease inhibitor CDI-45205 may be an effective treatment for COVID-19 caused by SARS-CoV-2 and its emerging variants, including the fast-spreading Delta variant that is becoming the dominant COVID-19 variant globally…The broad-spectrum activity against these SARS-CoV-2 variants is highly encouraging as CDI-45205 previously demonstrated excellent in vivo efficacy in a MERS-CoV-2 infected animal model,” said Sam Lee, Ph.D., Cocrystal’s President and interim co-CEO.
Cocrystal Pharma is a clinical-stage biotechnology company employing its unique structure-based technologies and Nobel Prize-winning expertise to create and develop broad spectrum antiviral drugs for serious and chronic diseases. The Company’s technologies are designed to efficiently deliver small-molecule therapeutics capable of targeting the viral replication process of viruses. Cocrystal’s development program includes influenza, COVID-19, hepatitis C and gastroenteritis caused by norovirus. Regarding COVID-19, Cocrystal is pursuing the development of novel antiviral compounds for the treatment of coronavirus infections using its proprietary drug discovery platform. By targeting the viral replication of enzymes and protease, Cocrystal hopes to develop an effective treatment for all coronaviruses causing COVID-19, SARS, and MERS.
To clarify, many viruses are encoded with one or more proteases, which play a pivotal role in the replication of a virus. With this in mind, CDI-45205 represents Cocrystal lead coronavirus development candidate. CDI-45205 was selected from a group of protease inhibitors obtained under the Kanas State University Research Foundation (KSURF) agreements. Under these agreements, Cocrystal received access to certain proprietary broad-spectrum CL3 antiviral compounds for the treatment of norovirus and coronavirus infections. To date, CDI-45205 has demonstrated broad-spectrum activity against the SARS-CoV-2 Alpha and Beta variants, surpassing the activity observed with the Wuhan strain.
“CDI-45205 has now shown antiviral activity in preclinical testing against SARS-CoV-2 and all four major variants,” said James Martin, CFO and interim co-CEO, “Our next steps are to scale-up synthesis and manufacture active pharmaceutical ingredient (API) to support Investigational New Drug (IND)-enabling studies to advance CDI-45205 into clinical trials.”
I know there’s a lot of scientific jargon here, but the bottom line is, Cocrystal is making significant headway with its CDI-45205 candidate. According to Grand View Research, the global pharmaceutical manufacturing market was valued at USD$405.52 billion in 2020 and is expected to grow at a CAGR of 11.34% from 2021 to 2028. With this in mind, COVID-19 vaccine spending is projected to add $157 billion to this market through 2025. Having now demonstrated antiviral activity in preclinical testing against SARS-CoV-2 and all four major variants, CD-45205 shows promise as an effective treatment for COVID-19.
Although Cocrystal reported no revenues for Q1 2021, the Company is eligible to receive up to $156 million in future payments related to designated development, regulatory, and sales milestones, as well as royalties on product sales through its agreement with Merck, established in 2019. Furthermore, as of March 31, 2021, Cocrystal reported cash and cash equivalents of $33.3 million compared to $33 million in Q4 2020. As of Q1 2021, Cocrystal’s total assets were $33,278,000 and total liabilities were $1,457,000. With this in mind, out of all the pharmaceutical jockeys racing to develop an effective vaccine for COVID-19 variants, Cocrystal has provided definitive proof that CDI-45205 just might be the real deal through preclinical testing.
Cocrystal’s share price opened at $1.38, up from a previous close of $1.10. The Company’s shares are up 19% and are currently trading at $1.31 as of 10:53AM ET.
