UNITED STATES

SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION

Washington, D.C. 20549

FORM 10-K

For the fiscal year ended: December 31, 2023

OR

Commission file number: 001-38418

Cocrystal Pharma, Inc.

(Exact name of registrant as specified in its charter)

Registrant’s telephone number, including area code: (877) 262-7123

Securities registered pursuant to Section 12(b) of the Act:

Securities registered pursuant to Section 12(g) of the Act: None

Indicate by check mark if the registrant is a well-known seasoned issuer, as defined in Rule 405 of the Securities Act. Yes ☐ No ☒

Indicate by check mark if the registrant is not required to file reports pursuant to Section 13 or Section 15(d) of the Exchange Act. Yes ☐ No ☒

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant (1) has filed all reports required to be filed by Section 13 or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the registrant was required to file such reports), and (2) has been subject to such filing requirements for the past 90 days. Yes ☒ No ☐

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant has submitted electronically every Interactive Data File required to be submitted pursuant to Rule 405 of Regulation S-T (§ 232.405 of this chapter) during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the registrant was required to submit such files). Yes ☒ No ☐

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a large accelerated filer, an accelerated filer, a non-accelerated filer or a smaller reporting company, or an emerging growth company. See the definitions of “large accelerated filer,” “accelerated filer”, “smaller reporting company”, and “emerging growth company” in Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act.

If an emerging growth company, indicate by check mark if the registrant has elected not to use the extended transition period for complying with any new or revised financial accounting standards provided pursuant to Section 13(a) of the Exchange Act. ☐

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant has filed a report on and attestation to its management’s assessment of the effectiveness of its internal control over financial reporting under Section 404(b) of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act (15 U.S.C. 7262(b)) by the registered public accounting firm that prepared or issued its audit report. ☒

If securities are registered pursuant to Section 12(b) of the Act, indicate by check mark whether the financial statements of the registrant included in the filing reflect the correction of an error to previously issued financial statements. ☐

Indicate by check mark whether any of those error corrections are restatements that required a recovery analysis of incentive-based compensation received by any of the registrant’s executive officers during the relevant recovery period pursuant to §240.10D-1(b). ☐

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a shell company (as defined in Rule 12b-2 of the Act). ☐ Yes ☒ No

The aggregate market value of the voting and non-voting common equity held by non-affiliates computed by reference to the closing price as of the last business day of the registrant’s most recently completed second fiscal quarter, June 30, 2023, was approximately $18.5 million.

The number of shares outstanding of the registrant’s common stock, as of March 28 2024, was approximately 10,173,790 shares.

Documents Incorporated by Reference

Portions of the registrant’s definitive proxy statement for its 2024 Annual Meeting of Stockholders are incorporated by reference in Items 10, 11, 12, 13, and 14 of Part III of this Annual Report on Form 10-K.

INDEX

PART I

Item 1. Business.

Overview

Cocrystal Pharma, Inc. (the “Company” or “Cocrystal”) is a clinical-stage biotechnology company discovering and developing novel antiviral therapeutics as treatments for serious and/or chronic viral diseases. We employ unique structure-based technologies and Nobel Prize winning expertise to create first- and best-in-class antiviral drugs. These technologies are designed to efficiently deliver small molecule therapeutics that are safe, effective, and convenient to administer. We have identified promising discovery, preclinical and clinical stage antiviral compounds for unmet medical needs caused by RNA viruses including influenza virus, coronaviruses (including SARS-CoV-2 & MERS-CoV), norovirus, respiratory virus infections and hepatitis C virus (“HCV”) infections.

The Company operates as one business entity.

Cocrystal Technology

We are developing small molecule antiviral therapeutics that inhibit the essential viral replication function of RNA viruses causing acute and chronic viral diseases. Our goals include treating and preventing influenza virus, coronavirus, and norovirus infections by discovering and developing drug candidates targeting required steps in the viral replication process. Additionally, one of our goals is to decrease the duration of HCV therapy. To discover and design these virus replication inhibitors, we use a proprietary platform comprising computational chemistry, medicinal chemistry, X-ray crystallography and our extensive know-how. We determine the structures of cocrystals containing the inhibitors bound to the viral enzyme or protein to guide our structure-based drug design. We also use advanced computational methods to screen and design product candidates using proprietary cocrystal structural information. In designing the candidates, we seek to anticipate and avert potential viral mutations leading to resistance. By designing and selecting drug candidates that interrupt the viral replication process and also have specific binding characteristics, we seek to develop drugs that are not only effective against both the virus and possible mutants of the virus, but which also have reduced off-target interactions that may cause undesirable clinical side effects.

The successful application of our approach requires an extensive knowledge of viruses and drug targets. In addition, knowledge and experience in the fields of structural biology, pharmacology, virology, and enzymology are required. We developed our proprietary structure-based drug design under the guidance of Dr. Roger Kornberg, our Chief Scientist and Chairman of both our Scientific Advisory Board (“SAB”) and Board of Directors (the “Board”), who received the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 2006. Our drug discovery process focuses on the highly conserved regions of the viral drug target enzymes and inhibitor-enzyme interactions at the atomic level. Additionally, we have developed proprietary chemical libraries consisting of non-nucleoside inhibitors, metal-binding inhibitors, and drug-like fragments. Our drug discovery process is different from traditional, empirical, medicinal chemistry approaches that often require iterative high-throughput compound screening and lengthy hit-to-lead processes. We will continue developing preclinical and clinical drug candidates using our proprietary drug discovery technology.

The Company’s proprietary technology integrates several powerful and specialized techniques:

We have applied these techniques to develop antiviral inhibitors of four important viruses: influenza virus, coronavirus, norovirus and HCV.

Market-Driven Product Profiles

In all of our programs our goal is to develop best-in-class broad-spectrum antiviral drugs with high-barrier-to-drug resistance. An ideal product for an antiviral therapy would have at least the following characteristics:

Even at the discovery stage of drug development, we select compounds with these factors in mind. Furthermore, we believe our technology is capable of delivering therapies that satisfy all of these key factors, as detailed below.

High barrier to drug resistance: Drug resistance is a major obstacle to developing effective antiviral therapies. Viruses can reproduce rapidly and in enormous quantities in infected human cells. During viral replication, random changes in the viral genome, called mutations, develop. If such a mutation occurs in a region of the viral genome that is targeted by a given antiviral therapy, that therapy may no longer be effective against the mutated virus. These mutated or “resistant” viruses can freely infect and multiply even in individuals who have received drug treatment. In some cases, resistant virus strains may even predominate. For example, in the 2009 swine influenza pandemic, the predominant strain was resistant to the best available therapies. During the COVID-19 pandemic outbreak newly emergent mutated coronaviruses have been identified, pointing out the ineffectiveness of vaccines and therapeutics. Another example, the Omicron variant which arose as the dominant strain of COVID-19 in late 2021 until it diminished in the winter of 2022 displayed increased resistance to available vaccines and treatments, resulting in the limitation or suspension of emergency use authorizations by the FDA for certain therapeutic products. In early 2024, a new strain of COVID-19 named JN.1 rapidly grew to the predominant strain of the virus in circulation, believed to be either more transmissible or better at evading the immune system than other circulating variants.

The Company’s focus on viral replication proteins can potentially overcome the obstacle of viral resistance. We identify and target critical residues of viral replication proteins that are essential for function, and therefore, sensitive to change. A mutation in these critical residues is likely to inactivate or slow down the replication processes and, in turn, render the virus incapable of replicating. Because such mutations cannot propagate, the virus cannot effectively develop resistance to the enzyme inhibitors we employ. We test the effectiveness of our compounds against existing drug resistant variants and select compounds with the highest barrier to resistance.

Broadly effective against major strains responsible for a viral disease: For any given viral disease, there are different strains of viruses that cause the disease. For example, there are three types of influenza viruses, A, B, and C. Influenza A and B viruses are significant human respiratory pathogens that cause seasonal flu and hospitalizations, with influenza A viruses being solely responsible for past influenza pandemics. Influenza C is a subtype of the influenza virus that tends to cause only mild illness and is not responsible for seasonal or pandemic infections. Our goal is to design and develop drug candidates that will be effective on the broadest possible range of viruses causing the disease.

Many antiviral drugs available today are effective only against certain strains of a given virus and less effective or not effective at all against other strains. To address this problem, we are developing drug candidates that specifically target viral enzymes involved in viral replication. Despite the various strains of virus that may exist, the active site of these enzymes required for viral replication is essentially highly conserved among all strains of a given virus. By targeting these highly conserved regions of the replication enzymes, our antiviral compounds are designed and tested to be effective against major virus strains. Replication enzymes are generally conserved not only among subtypes of a given virus but also among many different viruses, creating an opportunity for the development of broad-spectrum antiviral drugs.

Fast onset of action: As viruses can reproduce rapidly and in enormous quantities in human cells, antiviral drugs are needed with faster onset of viral load reduction resulting in shorter treatment time.

Safety and tolerability: All drugs potentially have side effects, also referred to as adverse effects. These usually result from a drug’s ability to interact and/or interfere the physiological functions of human proteins, causing undesirable effects. When this interaction is intentional (i.e., part of the drug’s mechanism of action), the adverse effects are classified as on-target effects. When this interaction is unintentional (i.e., resulting from the drug’s interaction with an unintended human molecule), the effects are called off-target effects. Our inhibitors target viral replication enzymes, which are generally unique to viruses. Because the targets are viral, not human, minimal adverse effects may be the result. During the discovery phase, we evaluate candidate compounds for potential cross-reactivity with human replication enzymes and attempt to eliminate those compounds that are cross-reactive with human homologous proteins.

Ease of administration: We select compounds for development that can be administered orally, preferably once daily in pill-form, or by inhalation or injection.

Research and Development Update

During the year ended December 31, 2023 the Company focused its research and development efforts primarily in three areas:

Influenza Program

We have several candidates under development for the treatment of influenza infection. CC-42344, a novel PB2 inhibitor, was selected as a preclinical lead for the treatment of pandemic and seasonal influenza A. Oral CC-42344 was advanced to a Phase 2a influenza human challenge clinical study in 2023 as described in more detail below. This drug candidate binds to a highly conserved PB2 site of influenza polymerase complex (PB1: PB2: PA) and exhibits a novel mechanism of action. CC-42344 showed excellent antiviral activity against influenza A strains, including avian pandemic strains, Tamiflu® and baloxavir resistant strains, and has favorable pharmacokinetic and drug resistance profiles. This drug candidate was specifically designed and developed using Cocrystal’s proprietary structure-based drug discovery platform technology.

In March 2022 enrollment was initiated in a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled Phase 1 study of orally delivered CC-42344, which was conducted in Australia. Later that year we reported favorable safety and tolerability results from the Phase 1 study of CC-42344 for the treatment of both pandemic and seasonal influenza A.

In October 2023 we announced receipt of authorization from the United Kingdom Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) to initiate a Phase 2a human challenge trial with oral CC-42344 as a potential treatment for pandemic and seasonal influenza A. In December 2023 we announced achievement of first-patient-in for this Phase 2a human challenge clinical trial. This ongoing randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled study is evaluating the safety, tolerability, viral and clinical measurements of influenza A infection in subjects dosed with oral CC-42344 treatment. Topline clinical results from the Phase 2a trial are expected in 2024.

In addition to the oral CC-42344, we developed inhaled CC-42344 for the prophylactic treatment of pandemic and seasonal influenza A infections. Our preclinical data of the inhaled CC-42344 showed excellent antiviral activity in influenza H1N1-infected human upper airway epithelium with favorable safety profile. We completed inhalation formulation development and are evaluating plans to initiate a Phase 1 study in 2024.

We also continue developing novel broad-spectrum influenza antivirals targeting replication enzymes of influenza A and B strains.

Coronavirus and Norovirus Programs

In October 2022 we announced the selection of a novel, broad-spectrum antiviral drug candidate CDI-988 for clinical development as an oral treatment for SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19. CDI-988 targets a highly conserved region in the active site of SARS-CoV-2 main (3CL) protease required for viral replication and and was discovered to exhibit pan-coronavirus activity against MERS-CoV, SARS-CoV, and common coronaviruses. This drug candidate was specifically designed and developed as a pan-viral protease inhibitor using Cocrystal’s proprietary structure-based drug discovery platform technology.

Subsequent preclinical studies demonstrated that pan-coronavirus lead CDI-988 also showed broad-spectrum antiviral activity against the multiple pandemic norovirus proteases. High resolution crystal structures confirmed that CDI-988 binds to the highly conserved region of the norovirus protease active site. In August 2023 we announced the selection of pan-viral CDI-988 as a potential oral therapy for coronaviruses and norovirus.

In May 2023 we announced approval from the Australian Human Research Ethics Committee (HREC) to conduct a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled Phase 1 study of CDI-988. The study is designed to access the safety, tolerability and pharmacokinetics of CDI-988.

In September 2023 we announced dosing of the first subjects in our Phase 1 clinical study with our oral, first-in-class pan-norovirus and pan-coronavirus 3CL protease inhibitor CDI-988. Topline clinical results from the Phase 1 trial are expected in 2024.

Therapeutic Targets

Influenza: A worldwide public health problem, including the potential for pandemic disease.

Influenza is a severe respiratory illness, caused primarily by influenza A or B virus. Influenza A viruses are the only influenza viruses known to cause influenza pandemics. Each year there are approximately 1 billion cases of seasonal influenza worldwide, with 3-5 million severe illnesses and up to 650,000 deaths, according to the World Health Organization (“WHO”). On average about 8% of the U.S. population contracts influenza each season, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (“CDC”). In addition to the health risk, influenza is responsible for approximately $10.4 billion in direct medical costs in the U.S. annually, according to the National Institutes of Health (“NIH”).

Currently, approved antiviral treatments for influenza are effective, but burdened with significant viral resistance. Strains of influenza virus that are resistant to the approved treatments oseltamivir phosphate (Tamiflu®) and zanamavir (Relenza®), baloxavir marboxil (Xofluza®) have appeared, and in some cases are predominated. For example, the predominant strain of the 2009 swine influenza pandemic was resistant to oseltamivir. Oseltamivir inhibits influenza neuraminidase enzymes, which are not highly conserved between viral strains. According to the WHO, approximately 15% of the H1N1 isolated circulating worldwide were oseltamivir resistant. Also, treatment-emergent resistance to recently approved baloxavir has been observed during clinical trials and the potential transmission of resistant influenza variants could significantly diminish baloxavir effectiveness.

The Company developed CC-42344, a novel PB2 inhibitor, as a lead candidate for the treatment of influenza A. We completed a Phase 1 study with oral CC-42344 and in December 2022 reported on favorable safety and tolerability results from the CC-42344 Phase 1 study. Upon approval of United Kingdom MHRA, we initiated a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled influenza Phase 2a human challenge study in the first half of 2023 and announced dosing of the first subjects in this study with oral CC-42344 in December 2023. Topline clinical results from the Phase 2a trial are expected in 2024.

Coronavirus: COVID-19 continues to be a global pandemic fueled by an emergence of new strains.

As a global pandemic with 774,631,044 COVID-19 confirmed cases globally, including 7,031,216 deaths, as of February 27, 2024, according to the data reported by the WHO. The COVID-19 pandemic and the measures taken by the federal, state and foreign governments to stop the spread of the virus have caused a significant disruption to the U.S. and global economy.

Coronaviruses (CoV) are a large family of RNA viruses that historically have been associated with illness ranging from mild symptoms similar to the common cold to more severe respiratory disease. Infection with the novel SARS-CoV-2 has been associated with a wide range of responses, from no symptoms to more severe disease that has included pneumonia, severe acute respiratory syndrome, kidney failure, and death. The incubation period for SARS-CoV-2 is believed to be within 14 days after exposure, with most illness occurring within about 5 days after exposure. SARS-CoV-2, like other RNA viruses, is prone to mutate over time, resulting in the emergence of multiple variants. Adaptive mutations in the viral genome can alter the virus’s pathogenic potential. Even a single amino acid exchange can drastically affect a virus’s ability to evade the immune system and complicate the vaccine and antibody therapeutics development against the virus. Based on the recent epidemiological update by the WHO, five SARS-CoV-2 VOCs (variants of concern) have been identified since the beginning of the pandemic. Also, as demonstrated in Delta and Omicron variants as well as the more recent JN.1 strain, some variations allow the virus to spread more easily and make it resistant to the treatments and vaccines.

On October 22, 2020, FDA approved the antiviral drug Veklury (remdesivir) for the treatment of COVID-19 requiring hospitalization. Remdesivir is a nucleotide prodrug that inhibits viral replication and was previously evaluated in clinical trials for Ebola treatment in 2014. On May 25, 2023, the FDA approved Paxlovid (nirmatrelvir tablets and ritonavir tablets, co-packaged for oral use) for use to treat COVID-19 for the treatment of mild-to-moderate COVID-19 in adults who are at high risk for progression to severe COVID-19, including hospitalization or death. For certain hospitalized adults with COVID-19, the FDA has also approved Olumiant (baricitinib) and Actemra (tocilizumab). In addition, the FDA issued emergency authorization use on several antibody and antiviral therapeutics, including and Lagevrio (molpiravir).

We continue pursuing the development of novel antiviral compounds for the treatment of coronavirus infections using our established proprietary drug discovery platform. By targeting the viral replication enzymes and protease, we believe it is possible to develop an effective treatment for all coronavirus diseases including COVID-19, Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS), and Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) - coronaviruses.

Norovirus: A worldwide public health problem responsible for close to 90% of epidemic, non-bacterial outbreaks of gastroenteritis around the world.

Norovirus is a very common and highly contagious virus that causes symptoms of acute gastroenteritis. among people of all ages. Norovirus infection can be much more severe and prolonged in specific risk groups including infants, children, the elderly, and people with immunodeficiency. Symptoms include nausea, vomiting, stomach pain and diarrhea as well as fatigue, fever and dehydration. Outbreaks occur most commonly in semi-closed communities, having become notorious for their occurrence in hospitals, nursing homes, childcare facilities, cruise ships, schools, disaster relief sites and military settings. In the United States alone, noroviruses are responsible for an estimated 21 million cases annually, including 109,000 hospitalizations, 465,000 emergency department visits and nearly 900 deaths, according to the CDC. The NIH estimates the annual burden to the United States at $10.6 billion. Noroviruses are responsible for up to 1.1 million hospitalizations and 218,000 deaths annually in children in the developing world. In immunosuppressed patients, chronic norovirus infection can lead to a debilitating illness with extended periods of nausea, vomiting and diarrhea. There is currently no effective treatment or effective vaccine for norovirus, and the ability to curtail outbreaks is limited. We have a candidate norovirus therapeutic in clinical testing. A few companies have been developing vaccines and six candidate vaccines are in stages of clinical testing by Vaxart Pharmaceutical, Moderna, Hillevax, Takeda Pharmaceuticals, Anhui Zhifei Longcom Biopharmaceutical (China) and National Vaccine and Serum Institute (China).

By targeting viral replication enzymes and a viral protease, we believe it is possible to develop an effective treatment for all genogroups of norovirus. Also, because of the significant unmet medical need and the possibility of chronic norovirus infection in immunocompromised individuals, new antiviral therapeutic approaches may warrant an accelerated path to market. The Company is developing inhibitors of the RNA-dependent RNA polymerase and protease of norovirus. Similar to the HCV polymerases, these enzymes are essential to viral replication and are highly conserved between all noroviral genogroups. Therefore, an inhibitor of these enzymes might be an effective treatment or short-term prophylactic agent, when administered during a cruise or nursing home stay, for example. We have developed X-ray quality norovirus polymerase and protease crystals and have identified promising inhibitors. We are implementing the platform and approaches that have proven successful in our other antiviral programs.

In September 2023 we announced dosing of the first subjects in our Phase 1 clinical study with our oral, first-in-class pan-norovirus and pan-coronavirus 3CL protease inhibitor CDI-988. Topline clinical results from the Phase 1 trial are expected in 2024.

Hepatitis C: A large competitive market with opportunity for shorter treatment regimens.

HCV is a highly competitive and changing market. Since 2014, several combinations of direct-acting antiviral agents (“DAAs”) have been approved for the treatment of HCV infection. These include Harvoni (sofosbuvir/ledipasvir) 12 weeks of treatment, Viekira Pak (ombitasvir/paritaprevir/ritonavir, dasabuvir) twelve weeks of treatment, Epclusa (sofosbuvir/velpatasvir) twelve weeks of treatment, Zepatier (elbasvir/grazoprevir) twelve weeks of treatment and Mavyret (glecaprevir/pibrentasvir) eight weeks of treatment. We believe the next improvements in HCV treatment will be ultra-short combination oral treatments of four to six weeks, which is the goal of our program.

We anticipate a significant global HCV market opportunity that will persist through at least 2036, given the large prevalence of HCV infection worldwide. The 2017 World Health Organization Global Hepatitis Report estimates that 71 million people worldwide have chronic HCV infections. In July 2023, WHO published that globally, an estimated 58 million people have chronic HCV infection, with about 1.5 million new infections occurring per year, and an estimated 3.2 million adolescents and children with chronic HCV infection.

We are targeting the viral NS5B polymerase with an NNI, which could be developed as part of an all-oral, pan-genotypic combination regimen. Our focus is on developing what is now called ultrashort treatment regimens from four to six weeks in length. Such a combination treatment CC-31244 with different classes of approved DAAs has the potential to change the paradigm of treatment for HCV with a shorter duration of treatment. Combination strategies with approved drugs could allow us to expand CC-31244 into the HCV antiviral therapeutic area globally and could lead to a high and fast cure rate, to improved compliance, and to reduced treatment duration. To our knowledge no competing company has yet developed a short HCV treatment of less than 8 weeks with a high (>95%) sustained virologic response (SVR) at week 12.

CC-31244, an HCV NNI, is a potential best in class pan-genotypic inhibitor of NS5B polymerase for the treatment of HCV. The Company completed a Phase 1a/b study in Canada in September 2016, with favorable safety results in a randomized, double-blinded, Phase 1a/b study in healthy volunteers and HCV-infected subjects. The Company completed a Phase 2a study in HCV genotype 1 subjects in the United States. Cocrystal presented the interim results from the Phase1a/b study at the APASL in February 2017. HCV-infected subjects treated with CC-31244 had a rapid and marked decline in HCV RNA levels, and slow viral rebound after treatment. Results of this study suggest that CC-31244 could be an important component in a shortened duration all-oral HCV combination therapy. The Company has completed the Phase 2a final study report as filed with the FDA. See “Item 1 – Business – Research and Development Update – Hepatitis C” for more information.

The Company has been seeking a partner for further clinical development of CC-31244 since completing Phase 2a trials.

Intellectual Property

Our success depends, in part, upon our ability to protect our core technology. To establish and protect our proprietary rights, we rely on a combination of patents, patent applications, trademarks, copyrights, trade secrets and know-how, license agreements, confidentiality procedures, non-disclosure agreements with third parties, employee disclosure and invention assignment agreements, and other contractual rights.

Our patent portfolio consists of issued patents and pending applications in the areas primarily related to the treatment of disease associated with Influenza A, Influenza A/B, and norovirus/coronaviruses and HCV.

In our Influenza A program, our patent portfolio consists of several patent families, including two pending international (PCT) applications and two families of pending applications in the U.S. and various foreign countries.

In our Influenza A/B program, our patent portfolio consists of a number of patent families pending, variously, as international (PCT) applications and in Taiwan. Aspects of this program were developed in collaboration with Merck, which is legally protecting the intellectual property of the collaboration compounds.

In our norovirus and coronavirus programs, our patent portfolio consists of three pending families of U.S. provisional applications.

In our HCV program, our patent portfolio consists of several patent families, with granted patents in the U.S. and Europe, as well as China, Canada, Eurasia, Japan, and Singapore. Applications are pending in numerous other jurisdictions.

Collaborations

Merck Collaboration

On January 2, 2019, we entered into an Exclusive License and Research Collaboration Agreement (the “Collaboration Agreement”) with Merck Sharp & Dohme LLC (“Merck”) to discover and develop certain proprietary influenza A/B antiviral agents.

Under the terms of the Collaboration Agreement, Merck is funding research and development for the program at Cocrystal and Merck, including clinical development at Merck, protecting intellectual property and Merck is responsible for worldwide commercialization of any products derived from the collaboration.

On December 15, 2023, we received written notice from Merck of Merck’s election to terminate the Collaboration Agreement, dated January 2, 2019, by and between the Company and Merck, with respect to the collaboration with Merck on the development of influenza A/B antiviral compounds. The termination of the Agreement is effective on March 14, 2024. The termination resulted from the inability to develop the compounds to meet a specific aspect of Merck’s program.

Kansas State University Research Foundation

Cocrystal entered into a License Agreement with KSURF on February 18, 2020 to further develop certain proprietary broad-spectrum antiviral compounds for the treatment of norovirus and coronavirus infections.

Pursuant to the terms of the License Agreement, KSURF granted the Company an exclusive royalty bearing license to practice under certain patent rights, under patent applications covering antivirals against coronaviruses, caliciviruses, and picornaviruses, and related know-how, including to make and sell therapeutic, diagnostic and prophylactic products.

The Company agreed to pay KSURF a one-time non-refundable license initiation fee of $80,000 under the License Agreement, and annual license maintenance fees. The Company also agreed to make certain future milestone payments of up to approximately $3.1 million, dependent upon the progress of clinical trials, regulatory approvals, and initiation of commercial sales in the United States and certain countries outside the United States.

On April 19, 2020, the Company entered into a second License Agreement with KSURF in addition to the License Agreement entered into in February 2020.

Pursuant to the terms of the second License Agreement, KSURF granted the Company an exclusive royalty bearing license to practice under certain patent rights under patent applications covering antivirals against coronaviruses, caliciviruses, and picornaviruses, and related know-how, including to make and sell therapeutic, diagnostic and prophylactic products.

The Company agreed to pay KSURF a one-time non-refundable license initiation fee and annual license maintenance fees. The Company also agreed to make certain future milestone payments of up to approximately $4.2 million, dependent upon the progress of clinical trials, regulatory approvals, and initiation of commercial sales in the United States and certain countries outside the United States.

On February 28, 2024, the Company provided notice to KSURF of the Company’s election to terminate the License Agreements. The terminations, which were made due to the Company’s determination that further development efforts under the License Agreements would be futile, are effective on March 29, 2024. The Company continues to clinically progress its fully owned compound CDI-988 for coronaviruses and norovirus.

Business-Competition

The biotechnology and pharmaceutical industries are subject to intense and rapidly changing competition as companies seek to develop new technologies and proprietary products. We face worldwide competition from larger biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies, universities and other academic or research institutions and government agencies that are developing and commercializing pharmaceutical products similar to our product candidates that target the viruses we are seeking to treat. We know of several companies that have marketed or are developing products for the treatment of influenza, coronavirus, norovirus and HCV, including Roche, Gilead Sciences, Inc. (“Gilead”), Merck, Janssen Pharmaceuticals, Inc., Bristol-Myers Squibb, Toyama Chemical Co., Shionogi/Roche and Abbvie, Inc. Their products are widely considered effective. Further, in the wake of the global COVID-19 pandemic a number of third parties, including large biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies such as Pfizer Inc., Moderna, Inc., Janssen Pharmaceuticals, Inc., and academic institutions began conducting research aimed at development of an effective treatment for, or a vaccine against, COVID-19. As a result of these efforts, a number of vaccines and treatments for COVID-19 have been commercialized under FDA approval, or under the FDA’s emergency use authorization, although certain of these approvals or authorizations are limited to specified circumstances. At least four treatments and five vaccines for COVID-19 have received FDA approval. Many of the companies developing products for the viral diseases that are the focus of our programs have substantially greater financial resources, including government funding, expertise and capabilities than we do and have existing products in significantly more advanced stages of development. Additionally, viral mutations can lead to new strains or variants of a virus that may be more resistant to products we develop when compared to those of competitors. See “Risk Factors” for more information on the risks we face with respect to our competition.

To date, we have not fully developed, received regulatory approval for or commercialized any of our product candidates. Our ability to compete will depend, to a great extent, on the speed in which we and our collaborators can develop safe and effective product candidates, complete clinical testing and regulatory approval processes, and coordinate with third parties to produce and distribute the resulting products in sufficient commercial quantities to create and maintain a market for such products at favorable costs and prices. If we do complete development of and obtain regulatory approval to market any product candidate, we anticipate that the competition we would face with respect to such product would be based on a combination of a number of factors including efficacy, safety, reliability, availability, price, patent position, and other factors.

Government Regulation

Government authorities extensively regulate the research, development, testing, manufacturing and commercialization of drug products. Any product candidates we develop must be approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (“FDA”) before they may be legally marketed in the U.S., and by the appropriate foreign regulatory agencies before they may be legally marketed in other countries. The clinical testing of product candidates to establish their safety and efficacy in humans is subject to substantial statutory and regulatory requirements with which we must comply.

In addition to the U.S. requirements such as those enforced by the FDA with respect to safety and efficacy of research, testing, development and production, we also must comply with applicable laws and regulations of any foreign jurisdictions in which we operate. For example, as a result of our Phase 1 trial in Australia for CC-42344, our lead Influenza A product candidate, we are subject to the Australian government’s laws and regulations pertaining to the research and development, including clinical testing on human subjects, of therapeutic product candidates. Further, our Phase 2a study for in the United Kingdom in 2023 for CC-42344 subjects us to similar laws and regulations in the United Kingdom. Our presence in foreign countries has also subjected us to more general laws applicable to operations abroad, such as the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (the “FCPA”) and comparable legislation and regulation in foreign jurisdictions. In general, the FCPA prohibits U.S. corporations and their representatives from offering, promising, authorizing or making payments to any foreign government official, government staff member, political party or political candidate to obtain or retain business abroad. The scope of the FCPA includes interactions with certain healthcare professionals in many countries. Other countries have enacted similar anti-corruption laws and/or regulations. Further, because of our reliance on one or more CROs and CMOs with respect to our research and development activities both in the U.S. and in foreign jurisdictions, we may have limited control over compliance with such requirements in certain instances.

Human Capital

As of March 28, 2024, we employed 12 full-time employees. Of these full-time employees, nine are engaged in research and development activities. In addition, we have contracts with CROs, CMOs and consultants to provide chemistry, toxicology, preclinical, clinical, and regulatory work on our programs, including in both preclinical and clinical studies for our product candidates.

Available Information

Our corporate website is www.cocrystalpharma.com. We make available on our website under “Investors – SEC Filings” access to our Annual Reports on Form 10-K, Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q, Current Reports on Form 8-K, Proxy Statements on Schedule 14A and amendments to those materials filed or furnished pursuant to Section 13(a) or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended (the “Exchange Act”), free of charge.

ITEM 1A. RISK FACTORS

You should carefully consider the risks described below, as well as other information contained in this report, including the consolidated financial statements and the notes thereto and “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations.” The occurrence of any of the events discussed below could significantly and adversely affect our business, prospects, results of operations, financial condition, and cash flow.

Summary Risk Factors

Our business is subject to numerous risks and uncertainties that you should consider before investing in our common stock. The following is a summary of the principal risk factors we face:

Risk Factors

RISKS RELATED TO OUR BUSINESS

We have never generated revenue from product sales and all of our product candidates are currently in the preclinical and early clinical stage, and we may continue to incur significant losses for the foreseeable future and never generate revenue from product sales.

We are a preclinical and early stage clinical, biopharmaceutical discovery and development company. We completed a Phase 2a clinical trial for our Influenza A lead oral candidate CC-42344 in 2023. We also completed a COVID-19 clinical trial in 2023 for our lead oral candidate CDI-988. We expect to report findings from these studies in 2024. Because of the need to complete clinical trials, establish safety and efficacy and obtain regulatory approval, which is an expensive and time-consuming process, we do not anticipate generating revenue from product sales for at least four years and will continue to sustain considerable losses. We may develop a partnership that could generate income sooner, but there is no guarantee that will be achievable.

We had an accumulated deficit of $315,914,000 from inception through December 31, 2023 and expect to continue losing money in the future. We may never achieve income from operations or have positive cash flow from operations.

As an early-stage drug development company, our focus is on developing product candidates, obtaining regulatory approvals and commercializing pharmaceutical products. As a result, we have accumulated losses of $315,914,000 from inception through December 31, 2023, expect losses to continue, and have never generated revenue from product sales. It is likely that we will need to raise additional capital in the future. There can be no assurance that we will ever generate income from operations or have positive cash flow from operations.

Because we have yet to generate any revenue from product sales on which to evaluate our potential for future success and to determine if we will be able to execute our business plan, it is difficult to evaluate our prospects and the likelihood of success or failure of our business.

Our ability to generate revenue from product sales and achieve profitability depends on our ability, alone or with partners, to successfully complete the development of, obtain the regulatory approvals for and commercialize pharmaceutical product candidates. We have no pharmaceutical product candidates that have generated any commercial revenue, do not expect to generate revenues from the commercial sale of pharmaceutical products for foreseeable future, and might never generate revenues from the sale of pharmaceutical products. Our ability to generate revenue and achieve profitability will depend on, among other things, the following:

Because of the numerous risks and uncertainties associated with pharmaceutical product development, we cannot predict the timing or amount of increased expenses and when we will be able to achieve or maintain profitability, if ever. Our expenses could increase beyond expectations if we are required by regulatory agencies to perform additional unanticipated studies and trials.

Even if one or more pharmaceutical product candidates we independently develop is approved for commercial sale, we anticipate incurring significant costs associated with commercializing any approved pharmaceutical product candidate. Moreover, even if we can generate revenues from the sale of any approved pharmaceutical products, we may not become profitable and may need to obtain additional funding to continue operations.

Because early-stage drug development requires major capital investment, as we continue to incur operating losses, we will need to raise additional capital or form strategic partnerships to support our research and development activities in the future.

We are still in the early stages of preclinical and clinical development of our product candidates and have no products approved for commercial sale or presently in clinical trials. However, our ability to conduct clinical trials in a cost-effective manner and within the desired timeframes remains subject to uncertainties, supply chain shortages, and potential difficulties in obtaining adequate participant enrollments. Further, developing pharmaceutical products, including conducting preclinical studies and clinical trials, is capital-intensive. As a rule, research and development expenses increase substantially as we advance our product candidates toward clinical programs. If we are able to advance our products through clinical trials, we may need to raise additional capital to support our operations and/or form partnerships, in addition to our existing collaborative alliances, which may give substantial rights to a partner. Such funding or partnerships may not be available to us on acceptable terms, or at all. Moreover, any future financing may be very dilutive to our existing stockholders.

As we move lead compounds through toxicology and other preclinical studies, also referred to as nonclinical studies, we have and we will be required to file an IND or its equivalent in foreign countries, and as we conduct clinical development of product candidates, we may have adverse results that may cause us to consume additional capital. Our partners may not elect to pursue the development and commercialization of our product candidates subject to our respective agreements with them. These events may increase our development costs more than we expect. We may need to raise additional capital or otherwise obtain funding through strategic alliances if we initiate clinical trials for new product candidates other than programs currently partnered. We will require additional capital to obtain regulatory approval for, and to commercialize, product candidates.

In securing additional financing, such additional fundraising efforts may divert our management’s attention from our day-to-day activities, which may adversely affect our ability to develop and commercialize product candidates. We cannot guarantee that future financing will be available in sufficient amounts or on terms acceptable to us, if at all. If we cannot raise additional capital when required or on acceptable terms, we may be required to:

If we are unable to raise additional capital in sufficient amounts or on terms acceptable to us, we will be prevented from pursuing development and commercialization efforts, which will have a material adverse effect on our business, operating results and prospects or may render the Company unable to continue operations.

RISKS RELATED TO THE DISCOVERY, DEVELOPMENT AND COMMERCIALIZATION OF PRODUCT CANDIDATES

Our COVID-19 programs are in the early clinical stage and we face significant competition from major companies who have developed vaccines or COVID-19 treatments. If we fail to gain market share because our competitors develop and successfully commercialize effective COVID-19 vaccines or therapies or if we fail to obtain or maintain FDA authorization or to otherwise account for uncertainties surrounding the virus, our business and future prospects could be materially and adversely affected.

While we completed a Phase 1 clinical study of our COVID-19 lead oral candidate CDI-988 in 2023, we may be unable to produce an effective therapy in a timely manner or at all. Additionally, we are committing substantial financial and other resources to our COVID-19 program, which may negatively impact our other programs. Further, in the wake of the global COVID-19 pandemic a number of third parties, including large biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies and academic institutions have developed vaccines and treatments which have FDA approval or emergency use authorization, as more particularly described above under “Business.” While the approval or authorization of certain of these competitive offerings are limited to specified circumstances or patients, given the uncertainties in our ability to fully develop a viable COVID-19 therapeutic product, the substantial amount of time and resources that would be necessary to complete development and obtain regulatory approval, and the growing number of competitive offerings, we may ultimately be unable to produce a product that is commercially viable or is able to generate material revenue.

Even if we do obtain FDA authorization for a therapeutic product, the FDA may subsequently rescind or limit such authorization as more information about the product, including its efficacy and side effects, becomes available. Further, this virus is highly mutative and a number of variants have already arisen, and any treatment we are able to develop and commercialize will therefore remain subject to the risk that a mutation will occur that produces a strain or strains of the virus to which such treatment has a diminished effect or is ineffective. For example, newer variants of the virus can be more resistant to treatments that were effective against prior variants of the virus. If we do develop a treatment that is effective against a current variant, a later variant may arise that reduces or eliminates the product’s efficacy before we are able to commercialize it. Further, if this occurs, one or more competitors’ products may be more effective against new variants than ours, resulting in a diminished market for our products. If we are unable to timely advance our COVID-19 program, or if we fail to gain or maintain a market share as a result of our competitors developing and successfully commercializing vaccines and effective COVID-19 therapies more quickly than we do, our business and future prospects could be materially and adversely affected.

Because Merck recently terminated our Collaboration Agreement and we recently terminated our License Agreements with KSURF, we no longer have potential revenue prospects or the other perceived benefits of those relationships, which may adversely affect our development and commercialization efforts particularly with respect to our influenza A/B, coronavirus and norovirus programs.

In late 2023 Merck notified us that it was terminating our Collaboration Agreement, effective March 14, 2024. Pursuant to the terms of the Collaboration Agreement, Merck had agreed to, among other things, (i) fund the research and development collaboration, including clinical development and commercialization; (ii) make certain milestone payments up to a total of $156 million, including payments associated with the successful product development and attainment of certain U.S. and EU regulatory approvals for the developed products and sales volume; and (iii) pay royalties on net sales of the products. Because of the termination, we will not be receiving any further payments from Merck, and will no longer have the ability to realize the other potential benefits of this former partnership. We may also be unable to locate a new development and commercialization partner on favorable terms or at all, or otherwise achieve our objectives with respect to our influenza A/B program. The loss of our alliance with Merck and its name recognition in the industry and in general could also have adverse consequences outside of this program in terms of our ability to attract strategic alliances to further our development and commercialization efforts generally.

Further, in early 2024 we terminated our License Agreements with KSURF, under which we previously licensed proprietary broad-spectrum antiviral compounds for the potential treatment of norovirus and coronavirus infections. As a result of the terminations, which were based on our determination that proceeding with research and development efforts under the licenses would be futile, our prospects in our coronavirus and norovirus programs are diminished because any perceived or anticipated benefits of the licenses and collaboration will not be realized. Following the terminations the pool of prospective compounds from which we can potentially identify, develop and commercialize viable therapeutic product candidates under these programs is reduced. Any of the foregoing could materially adversely affect our research and development efforts, business and prospects.

If we form strategic alliances which are unsuccessful or are terminated, we may be unable to develop or commercialize certain product candidates and we may be unable to generate revenues from our development programs.

We will likely need to use third-party alliance partners for financial, scientific, manufacturing, marketing and sales resources for the clinical development and commercialization of certain of our product candidates. These strategic alliances, if we are able to enter into them, will likely constrain our control over development and commercialization of our product candidates, especially once a candidate has reached the stage of clinical development. Our ability to recognize revenues from successful strategic alliances may be impaired by several factors including:

Termination of a strategic alliance such as the recent terminations of the Merck Collaboration Agreement and KSURF License Agreements may require us to seek out and establish alternative strategic alliances with third-party partners. This may not be possible, including due to restrictions under the terms of our existing collaborations, or we may not be able to do so on terms acceptable to us. See also the risk factor entitled “Because Merck recently terminated our Collaboration Agreement and we recently terminated our License Agreements with KSURF, we no longer have potential revenue prospects or the other perceived benefits of those relationships, which will adversely affect our development and commercialization efforts particularly with respect to our influenza A/B, coronavirus and norovirus programs.” If we fail to establish alternative strategic alliances with third-party partners on terms acceptable to us, or at all, we may be required to limit the size or scope of one or more of our programs or decrease our expenditures and seek additional funding by other means. Such events would likely have a material adverse effect on our results of operations and financial condition.

We expect to rely on third parties to conduct some or all aspects of our compound formulation, research and preclinical testing, if those third parties do not perform satisfactorily our business and future prospects would be materially and adversely affected.

We do not expect to independently conduct all aspects of our drug discovery activities, compound formulation research or preclinical testing of product candidates. We rely and expect to continue to rely on third parties to conduct some aspects of our preclinical testing and on third-party CROs to conduct clinical trials. This reliance can materially delay our research and developments efforts, and increase the costs of undertaking them. For example, beginning in 2021, certain of our CROs began experiencing staffing shortages and other issues due to the outbreak of Omicron cases, resulting in delays and increased costs in researching our product candidates. We have also experienced material delays and cost increases in general throughout the pandemic caused by pandemic-related difficulties faced by our CROs and CMOs. Further, any disputes that may arise from our arrangements with CROs or CMOs may result in additional unexpected expenses and force our management to allocate their limited time to seeking a resolution to the problem, which could materially adversely affect our operations.

If these third parties terminate their engagements, we will need to enter into alternative arrangements which would delay our product development activities. Our reliance on these third parties for research and development activities will reduce our control over these activities but will not relieve us of our responsibilities. If in the future, we elect to develop and commercialize any product candidates on our own, we will remain responsible for ensuring that each of our IND-enabling preclinical studies and clinical trials are conducted under the respective study plans and trial protocols. If these third parties do not successfully carry out their contractual duties, meet expected deadlines or conduct our studies under regulatory requirements or our stated study plans and protocols, we will not be able to complete, or may experience delays in completing, the necessary clinical trials and preclinical studies to enable us or our partners to select viable product candidates for IND submissions and will not be able to, or may be delayed in our efforts to, successfully develop and commercialize such product candidates.

Because we intend to rely on third-party manufacturers to produce our preclinical and clinical supplies, and commercial supplies of any approved product candidates, we will be subject to a variety of risks.

Our reliance on third-party manufacturers to develop products and our anticipated reliance on third-party manufacturers to produce products we may develop in the future entail risks to which we would not be subject if we supplied the materials needed to develop and manufacture our product candidates ourselves, including:

These events could lead to clinical study delays or failure to obtain regulatory approval or impact our ability to successfully commercialize future products. Some of these events could be the basis for regulatory actions, including injunction, recall, seizure or total or partial suspension of production.

Because we expect to rely on limited sources of supply for the drug substance and drug product of product candidates, any disruption in the chain of supply may cause a delay in developing and commercializing these product candidates.

Part of our business plan envisions establishing manufacturing relationships with a limited number of suppliers to manufacture raw materials, drug substances, and the drug product of any product candidate for which we are responsible for preclinical or clinical development. Each supplier may require licenses to manufacture such components if such processes are not owned by the supplier or in the public domain. As part of any marketing approval, a manufacturer and its processes must be qualified by the FDA or foreign regulatory authorities prior to commercialization. If supply from the approved vendor is interrupted, there could be a significant disruption in commercial supply. An alternative vendor would need to be qualified through a New Drug Application (“NDA”) or marketing authorization supplement, which could cause further delay. The FDA or other regulatory agencies outside of the United States may also require additional studies if a new supplier is relied upon for commercial production.

These factors could cause the delay of clinical trials, regulatory submissions, required approvals or commercialization of our product candidates, cause us to incur higher costs and prevent us from commercializing our products successfully. Furthermore, if our suppliers fail to deliver the required commercial quantities of drug substance or drug product on a timely basis and at commercially reasonable prices, and we are unable to secure one or more replacement suppliers capable of production at a substantially equivalent cost, our clinical trials may be delayed, or we could lose potential revenue.

If third party manufacturing issues arise, it could increase product and regulatory approval costs or delay commercialization.

As third parties scale up manufacturing of product candidates and conduct required stability testing, product, packaging, equipment and process-related issues may require refinement or resolution to proceed with any clinical trials and obtain regulatory approval for commercial marketing. We or the manufacturers may identify significant impurities or stability problems, which could cause discontinuation or recall by us or our manufacturers, increased scrutiny by regulatory agencies, delays in clinical programs and regulatory approval, significant increases in our operating expenses, or failure to obtain or maintain approval for product candidates or any approved products.

Since we expect to continue to rely on third parties to conduct, supervise and monitor our clinical trials, if those third parties fail to perform in a satisfactory manner and one that meets applicable regulatory, scientific and safety requirements, it may materially harm our business.

We will rely on CROs and clinical trial sites to ensure the proper and timely conduct of our clinical trials. While we establish agreements governing the activities of such CROs and clinical trial sites, we or our partners will have limited influence over their actual performance. Nevertheless, we or our partners will be responsible for ensuring that each of our clinical trials is conducted in accordance with its protocol, and that all legal, regulatory and scientific standards are met. Our reliance on the CROs does not relieve us of our regulatory responsibilities.

We, our partners and our CROs must comply with current Good Clinical Practices (“cGCPs”), as defined by the FDA and the International Conference on Harmonization, for conducting, recording and reporting the results of IND-enabling preclinical studies and clinical trials, to ensure that data and reported results are credible and accurate and that the rights, integrity and confidentiality of clinical trial participants are protected. The FDA enforces these cGCPs through periodic inspections of trial sponsors, principal investigators, and clinical trial sites. If we or our CROs fail to comply with cGCPs, the clinical data generated in our clinical trials may be deemed unreliable and the FDA or other regulators may require us to perform additional clinical trials before approving any marketing applications. Our clinical trials will require a sufficiently large number of test subjects to evaluate the safety and effectiveness of a product candidate. If our CROs fail to comply with these regulations or fail to recruit a sufficient number of patients, fail to recruit properly qualified patients or fail to properly record or maintain patient data, we may be required to repeat such clinical trials, which would delay the regulatory approval process.

Our contracted CROs will not be our employees, and we cannot control whether they devote sufficient time and resources to our clinical and nonclinical programs. These CROs may also have relationships with other commercial entities, including our competitors, for whom they may also be conducting clinical trials, or other drug development activities that could harm our competitive position. If our CROs do not successfully carry out their contractual duties or obligations, fail to meet expected deadlines, or if the quality or accuracy of the clinical data they obtain is compromised due to failing to adhere to our clinical protocols or regulatory requirements, or for any other reasons, our clinical trials may be extended, delayed or terminated, and we may not obtain regulatory approval for, or successfully commercialize our product candidates. Our financial results and the commercial prospects for such products and any product candidates we develop would be harmed, our costs could increase, and our ability to generate revenues could be delayed.

We also expect to rely on other third parties to store and distribute drug products for any clinical trials we may conduct. Any performance failure by our distributors could delay clinical development or marketing approval of our product candidates or commercialization of our products, if approved, producing additional losses and depriving us of potential product revenue.

Because the approach we are taking to discover and develop drugs is novel, it may never lead to marketable products.

We are concentrating our antiviral therapeutic product research and development efforts on using our proprietary technology, and our future success depends on the continued successful development of this technology and the products derived from it. We have never commercialized any products. The scientific discoveries that form the basis for our efforts to discover and develop drug product candidates are relatively new and unproven. The scientific evidence to support the feasibility of developing product candidates based on our approach is limited. If we do not successfully develop and commercialize drug product candidates based upon our technological approach, we may not become profitable and the value of our stock may decline.

Further, our focus on the Company’s technology for developing drugs, as opposed to relying entirely on more standard technologies for drug development, increases the risks associated with the ownership of our stock. If we are unsuccessful in developing any product candidates using the Company’s technology, we may be required to change the scope and direction of our product development activities. We may not successfully identify and implement an alternative product development strategy and may as a result cease operations.

If we do not succeed in our efforts to identify or discover additional potential product candidates, your investment may be lost.

The success of our business depends primarily upon our ability to identify, develop and commercialize antiviral drug products, an extremely risky business. Our research programs may initially show promise in identifying potential product candidates, yet fail to yield product candidates for clinical development for several reasons, including:

Such events may force us to abandon our development efforts for a program or programs, which would have a material adverse effect on our business and could cause us to cease operations. Research programs to identify new product candidates require substantial technical, financial, and human resources. We may focus our efforts and resources on potential programs or product candidates that ultimately prove to be unsuccessful.

Because our future commercial success depends on gaining regulatory approval for our products, we cannot generate revenue without obtaining approvals.

Our long-term success and generation of revenue will depend upon the successful development of new products from our research and development activities, including those licensed or acquired from third parties. Product development is very expensive and involves a high degree of risk. Only a small number of research and development programs result in the commercialization of a product. For example, the FDA indicates that approximately 70% of drugs proceed past Phase 1 studies, 33% proceed past Phase 2, and just 25%-30% proceed past Phase 3 to Phase 4 which is the final phase in the FDA review and approval process for marketing therapeutic product candidates. The process for obtaining regulatory approval to market product candidates is expensive, usually takes many years, and can vary substantially based on the type, complexity, and novelty of the product candidates involved. Our ability to generate revenue would be adversely affected if we are delayed or unable to successfully develop our products.

We cannot guarantee that any marketing application for our product candidates will be approved. If we do not obtain regulatory approval of our products or we are significantly delayed or limited in doing so, we cannot generate revenue, and we may need to significantly curtail operations.

If we are unable to successfully complete preclinical testing and clinical trials of our product candidates or experience significant delays in doing so, our business will be materially harmed.

We have invested and intend to continue to invest a significant portion of our efforts and financial resources in the identification and preclinical development of product candidates that target viral replication enzymes. Our ability to generate product revenues, which we do not expect will occur for many years, if ever, will depend heavily on the successful development and eventual commercialization of our product candidates.

The commercial success of our product candidates will depend on several factors, including:

If we do not achieve one or more of these factors in a timely manner or at all, we could experience significant delays or an inability to successfully complete development of, or to successfully commercialize, our product candidates, which would materially harm our business. Most pharmaceutical products that do overcome the long odds of drug development and achieve commercialization still do not recoup their cost of capital. If we are unable to design and develop each drug to meet a commercial need far in the future, the approved drug may become a commercial failure and our investment in those development and commercialization efforts will have been commercially unsuccessful.

We may be unable to demonstrate safety and efficacy of our product candidates to the satisfaction of regulatory authorities or we may incur additional costs or experience delays in completing, or ultimately be unable to complete, the development and commercialization of our product candidates.

Before obtaining marketing approval from regulatory authorities for the sale of product candidates, we or our partners must conduct extensive preclinical studies and clinical trials to demonstrate the safety and efficacy of the product candidates in humans. Clinical trials are expensive, difficult to design and implement, can take many years to complete and are uncertain as to outcome. A failure of one or more clinical trials can occur at any stage of testing. The outcome of preclinical studies and early clinical trials may not be predictive of the success of later clinical trials, and interim results of a clinical trial do not predict final results. Moreover, preclinical, and clinical data are often susceptible to varying interpretations and analyses, and many companies that have believed their product candidates performed satisfactorily in preclinical studies and clinical trials have nonetheless failed to obtain marketing approval for their products.

Events that may cause a delay or unsuccessful completion of clinical development include, among other things:

If we or our partners must conduct additional clinical trials or other testing of any product candidates beyond those that are contemplated, or are unable to successfully complete clinical trials or other testing of any of our product candidates, or if the results of these trials or tests are not positive or are only modestly positive or if there are safety concerns, we or our partners may:

Our product development costs will also increase if we experience delays in testing or in obtaining marketing approvals. We do not know whether any clinical trials will begin as planned, will need to be restructured or will be completed on schedule, if at all. Significant clinical trial delays also could shorten any periods during which we may have the exclusive right to commercialize our product candidates or allow our competitors to bring products to market before we do, which would impair our ability to successfully commercialize our product candidates and may harm our business and results of operations. Any inability to successfully complete preclinical and clinical development, whether independently or with our partners, could cause additional costs to us or impair our ability to generate revenues from our product candidates, including product sales, milestone payments, profit sharing or royalties.

Our product candidates may cause adverse effects or have other properties that could delay or prevent their regulatory approval or limit the scope of any approved label or market acceptance.

Adverse events (“AEs”) or serious adverse events (“SAEs”), that may be observed during clinical trials of our product candidates could cause us, other reviewing entities, clinical trial sites or regulatory authorities to interrupt, delay or halt such trials and could cause denial of regulatory approval. If AEs or SAEs are observed in any clinical trials of our product candidates, including those our partners may develop under alliance agreements, our or our partners’ ability to obtain regulatory approval for product candidates may be negatively impacted.

Serious or unexpected side effects caused by an approved product could result in significant negative consequences, including the following:

These events could prevent us or our partners from achieving or maintaining market acceptance of the affected product and could substantially increase the costs of commercializing our products and impair our ability to generate revenues from the commercialization of these products either by us or by our partners.

Following regulatory approval for a product candidate, we will still face extensive regulatory requirements and the approved product may face future development and regulatory difficulties.

Even if we obtain regulatory approval in the United States or elsewhere, the applicable regulators may still impose significant restrictions on the indicated uses or marketing of our product candidates or impose ongoing requirements for potentially costly post-approval studies or post-market surveillance. The following discussion is based on United States law. Similar types of regulatory provision apply outside of the United States.

The holder of an approved new drug application, or NDA must monitor and report AEs and SAEs and any failure of a product to meet the specifications in the NDA. The holder of an approved NDA must also submit new or supplemental applications and obtain FDA approval for certain changes to the approved product, product labeling or manufacturing process. Advertising and promotional materials must comply with FDA rules and other applicable federal and state laws and are subject to FDA review.

Drug product manufacturers and their facilities are subject to payment of user fees and continual review and periodic inspections by the FDA and other regulatory authorities for compliance with current Good Manufacturing Practices (“cGMP”), and adherence to commitments made in the NDA. If we or a regulatory agency discover previously unknown problems with a product such as AEs or SAEs of unanticipated severity or frequency, or problems with the facility where the product is manufactured, a regulatory agency may impose restrictions on that product or the manufacturing facility, including requiring recall or withdrawal of the product from the market or suspension of manufacturing.

If we or our partners fail to comply with regulatory requirements following approval of our product candidates, a regulatory agency may:

Our defense of any government investigation of alleged violations of law, or any lawsuit alleging such violations, could require us to expend significant time and resources and could generate negative publicity. Further, the FDA’s and other regulatory authorities’ policies may change, and additional government regulations may be enacted that could prevent, limit or delay regulatory approval of our product candidates or increase the cost of compliance. The occurrence of any event or penalty described above may prevent or inhibit our ability to commercialize our products and generate revenues.

We may not succeed in obtaining or maintaining necessary rights to drug compounds and processes for our development pipeline through acquisitions and in-licenses.

We may be unable to acquire or in-license any compositions, methods of use, processes, or other third-party intellectual property rights from third parties we identify. The licensing and acquisition of third-party intellectual property rights is a competitive area, and more established companies are also pursuing strategies to license or acquire third-party intellectual property rights we may consider attractive. These established companies may have a competitive advantage over us due to their size, cash resources and greater clinical development and commercialization capabilities.

Companies that perceive us to be a competitor may be unwilling to assign or license rights to us. We also may be unable to license or acquire third-party intellectual property rights on terms that would allow us to make an appropriate return on our investment. If we are unable to successfully obtain rights to required third-party intellectual property rights, our business, financial condition, and prospects for growth could suffer.

Because third parties may be developing competitive products without our knowledge, we may later learn that competitive products are superior to our product candidates which may force us to terminate our research efforts of one or more product candidates.

We face potential competition from companies, particularly privately-held companies and foreign companies that may be developing competitive products that are superior to one or more of our product candidates. If in the future, we learn of the existence of one or more competitive products, we may be required to:

Any of these events may occur after we have spent substantial sums in connection with the clinical research of one or more product candidates.

We have limited experience in conducting and managing the preclinical development activities and clinical trials necessary to obtain approvals for marketing our product candidates, including approval by the FDA.

Our efforts to develop our product candidates are limited to a small number of product candidates aimed at treating a small number of viral diseases. To date, we have only entered a limited number of compounds into human clinical trials, including in 2023 when we advanced our Influenza A product candidate to a Phase 2a trial and our COVID-19 product candidate where we initiated a Phase 1 trial. We may be unable to progress our product candidates undergoing preclinical testing into clinical trials. Success in preclinical testing and early clinical trials does not ensure that later clinical trials will succeed, and favorable initial results from a clinical trial do not determine outcomes in subsequent clinical trials. The indications of use for which we are pursuing development may have clinical effectiveness endpoints not previously reviewed or validated by the FDA or foreign regulatory authorities, which may complicate or delay our effort to obtain marketing approval. We cannot guarantee that our clinical trials will succeed. In fact, most compounds fail in clinical trials, even at companies far larger and more experienced than us. If any preclinical or clinical trials yield adverse results, it could delay the development of the product candidate, force us to cease pursuing the product candidate, or render it impossible or impracticable to proceed towards commercialization.

We have not obtained marketing approval or commercialized any of our product candidates. We may not successfully design or implement clinical trials required for marketing approval to market our product candidates. If we are unsuccessful in conducting and managing our preclinical development activities or clinical trials or obtaining marketing approvals, we might not be able to commercialize our product candidates, or might be significantly delayed in doing so, which will materially harm our business.

RISKS RELATED TO OUR BUSINESS OPERATIONS AND INDUSTRY

If we cannot obtain or protect intellectual property rights related to our future products and product candidates, we may not be able to compete effectively in our markets.

We rely upon a combination of patents, trade secret protection and confidentiality agreements to protect the intellectual property related to our future products and product candidates. The strength of patents in the biotechnology and pharmaceutical field involves complex legal and scientific questions and can be uncertain. The patent applications we own or in-license may fail to result in patents with claims that cover the products in the United States or in other countries. There is no assurance that all potentially relevant prior art relating to our patents and patent applications has been found; such prior art can invalidate a patent or prevent issuance of a patent based on a pending patent application. Even if patents do successfully issue, third parties may challenge their validity, enforceability or scope, which may cause such patents to be narrowed or invalidated. Even if unchallenged, our patents and patent applications may not adequately protect our intellectual property or prevent others from designing around our claims.

If the patent applications we hold or have in-licensed regarding our programs or product candidates fail to issue or if their breadth or strength of protection is threatened, it could dissuade companies from collaborating with us to develop product candidates, and threaten our ability to commercialize products. Patents may not issue and issued patents may be found invalid and unenforceable or challenged by third parties. Since patent applications in the United States and most other countries are confidential for a period after filing, and some remain so until issued, we cannot be certain that we were the first to invent a patent application related to a product candidate. In certain situations, if we and one or more third parties have filed patent applications in the United States and claiming the same subject matter, an administrative proceeding can be initiated to determine which applicant is entitled to the patent on that subject matter. Patents have a limited lifespan. In the United States, the natural expiration of a patent is 20 years after it is filed, although various extensions may be available. The life of a patent, and the protection it affords, is limited. When the patent life has expired for a product, we will become vulnerable to competition from generic medications attempting to replicate that product. Further, if we encounter delays in regulatory approvals, the time during which we will be able to market and commercialize a product candidate under patent protection could be reduced.

In addition to patent protection, we rely on trade secret protection and confidentiality agreements to protect proprietary know-how that is not patentable, processes for which patents are difficult to enforce and any other elements of our drug discovery and development processes that involve proprietary know-how, information or technology not covered by patents. Each of our employees agrees to assign their inventions to us through an employee inventions agreement. In addition, as a general practice, our employees, consultants, advisors and any third parties who have access to our proprietary know-how, information or technology enter into confidentiality agreements. Nonetheless, our trade secrets and other confidential proprietary information may be disclosed and competitors may otherwise gain access to our trade secrets or independently develop substantially equivalent information and techniques. In addition, in January 2018 the FDA as part of its Transparency Initiative, launched a voluntary pilot program calling on biopharmaceutical research companies to release clinical study reports summarizing clinical trial data. Based on these trends, the FDA may consider making release of clinical study reports mandatory and may consider making additional information publicly available on a routine basis in response to concerns expressed by the academic community emphasized by the COVID-19 pandemic, including information we may consider to be trade secrets or other proprietary information. If the FDA takes these measures, we may be forced to disclose propriety information about our product candidates and research, which could materially harm our business.

The laws of some foreign countries do not protect proprietary rights to the same extent or in the same manner as the laws of the United States. We may encounter significant problems in protecting and defending our intellectual property both in the United States and abroad. Further, governments may in the future alter intellectual property rights in a manner adverse to us or to our third-party collaborators, including actions taken at the international level. For example, in June 2022 member countries of the World Trade Organization (“WTO”) agreed to implement a multi-jurisdictional five-year waiver of patent protection with respect to vaccines that target COVID-19 in an effort to fight the pandemic and allow for a more equal distribution of resources, particularly for developing countries, towards that goal. This resulted from ongoing discussions among WTO member countries which began in 2020 with a proposal for a more extensive waiver that would have covered patents for COVID-19 related diagnostics and therapeutics as well as vaccines. The WTO waiver, together with similar actions that may be taken with respect to COVID-19-related products or other products in which we are or may become involved could materially diminish or eliminate our ability to protect the underlying intellectual property rights we rely on for such products, including those licensed from third parties, and as a result any potential competitive advantage would be lost. If we are unable to prevent material disclosure of the non-patented intellectual property related to our technologies to third parties, and there is no guarantee we will have any such enforceable trade secret protection, we may not be able to establish or maintain a competitive advantage in our market, which could materially adversely affect our business, results of operations and financial condition.

If third-party intellectual property infringement claims are asserted against us, it may prevent or delay our development and commercialization efforts and have a material adverse effect on our business and future prospects.

Our commercial success depends in part on our avoiding infringement on the patents and proprietary rights of third parties. There is substantial litigation, both within and outside the United States, involving patent and other intellectual property rights in the biotechnology and pharmaceutical industries, including patent infringement lawsuits, interferences, oppositions, and reexaminations and other post-grant proceedings before the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, and corresponding foreign patent offices. Numerous U.S. and foreign issued patents and pending patent applications, which are owned by third parties, exist in the fields in which we and our partners are pursuing product candidates. As the biotechnology and pharmaceutical industries expand and more patents are issued, the risk increases that our product candidates may be subject to claims of infringement of the patent rights of third parties.

Third parties may assert that we are employing their proprietary technology without authorization. There may be third-party patents or patent applications with claims to materials, formulations, methods of manufacture or methods for treatment related to the use or manufacture of our product candidates. Because patent applications can take many years to issue, there may be patent applications currently pending that may later result in patents that our product candidates may infringe upon. Third parties may obtain patents in the future and claim that use of our technologies infringes on these patents. If any third-party patents were to be held by a court of competent jurisdiction to cover the manufacturing process of any of our product candidates, any molecules formed during the manufacturing process or any final product itself, the holders of any such patents may be able to block our ability to commercialize such product candidate unless we obtained a license under the applicable patents, or until such patents expire. Similarly, if any third-party patents were to be held by a court of competent jurisdiction to cover aspects of our formulations, processes for manufacture or methods of use, including combination therapy, the holders of any such patents may be able to block our ability to develop and commercialize the applicable product candidate unless we obtained a license or until such patent expires. In either case, such a license may not be available on commercially reasonable terms or at all.

Parties making intellectual property claims against us may obtain injunctive or other equitable relief, which could block our ability to further develop and commercialize one or more of our product candidates. Defense of these claims, regardless of their merit, involves substantial litigation expense and diversion of our management’s attention from our business. If a claim of infringement against us succeeds, we may have to pay substantial damages, possibly including treble damages and attorneys’ fees for willful infringement, pay royalties, redesign our infringing products or obtain one or more licenses from third parties, which may be impossible or require substantial time and monetary expenditure.

Because of the costs involved in defending patent litigation, we may in the future lack the capital to defend our intellectual property rights.

We may in the future be involved in lawsuits to protect or enforce our patents or the patents of our licensors, which could be expensive, time-consuming and unsuccessful.

Competitors may infringe on our patents or the patents of our licensors. To counter such infringement or unauthorized use, we may be required to file infringement claims, or we may be required to defend the validity or enforceability of such patents, which can be expensive and time-consuming. In an infringement proceeding, a court may decide that either one or more of our patents or our licensors’ patents is not valid or is unenforceable or may refuse to stop the other party from using the technology at issue because our patents do not cover that technology. An adverse result in any litigation or defense proceedings could put one or more of our patents at risk of being invalidated or interpreted narrowly and could put our patent applications at risk of not being issued.

Interference proceedings provoked by third parties or brought by us may be necessary to determine the priority of inventions regarding our patents or patent applications or those of our partners or licensors. An unfavorable outcome could require us to cease using the related technology or to license rights to it from the prevailing party. Our business could be harmed if the prevailing party does not offer us a license on commercially reasonable terms. Our defense of litigation or interference proceedings may fail and, even if successful, may cause us to incur substantial costs and distract the attention of our management and other employees. We may not be able to prevent, alone or with our licensors, misappropriation of our intellectual property rights, particularly in countries where the laws may not protect those rights as fully as in the United States.

Because of the substantial amount of discovery required in intellectual property litigation, there is a risk that some of our confidential information could be compromised by disclosure during this type of litigation. There could also be public announcements of the results of hearings, motions or other interim proceedings or developments. If securities analysts or investors perceive these results to be negative, it could have a material adverse effect on the price of our common stock.

We may need to obtain additional licenses to intellectual property rights from third parties.

We may need to obtain additional licenses from third parties to advance our research or allow commercialization of our product candidates. We may fail to obtain these licenses at a reasonable cost or on reasonable terms, if at all. In that event, we would be unable to further develop and commercialize one or more of our product candidates, which could harm our business significantly. We cannot provide any assurances that third-party patents do not exist that might be enforced against our products, resulting in either an injunction prohibiting our sales, or, with respect to our sales and other activities, an obligation on our part to pay royalties and/or other forms of compensation to third parties

The licensing and acquisition of third-party intellectual property rights is a competitive practice, and companies that may be more established, or have greater resources than we do, may also be pursuing strategies to license or acquire third-party intellectual property rights that we may consider necessary or attractive in order to develop and commercialize our product candidates. More established companies may have a competitive advantage over us due to their larger size and cash resources or greater clinical development and commercialization capabilities. We may not be able to successfully complete such negotiations and ultimately acquire the rights to the intellectual property surrounding product candidates that we may seek to acquire, in which case our business could be harmed.

We may be subject to claims that our employees, consultants or independent contractors have wrongfully used or disclosed confidential information of third parties.

We employ individuals previously employed at other biotechnology or pharmaceutical companies. We may be subject to claims asserting that we or our employees, consultants or independent contractors have inadvertently or otherwise used or disclosed confidential information of our employees’ former employers or other third parties. We may also be subject to claims that former employers or other third parties have an ownership interest in our patents. Litigation may be necessary to defend against these claims. There is no guarantee of success in defending these claims, and if we succeed, litigation could cause substantial cost and be a distraction to our management and other employees.

Because we face significant competition from other biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies, our operating results will suffer if we fail to compete effectively.

The biotechnology and pharmaceutical industries are intensely competitive. See “Business-Competition” at page 10 for a description of the competitive environment we face. We have competitors both in the United States and internationally, including major multinational pharmaceutical companies, biotechnology companies and universities and other research institutions. Our competitors have substantially greater financial, technical and other resources, such as larger research and development staff and experienced marketing and manufacturing organizations. This enables them, among other things, to make greater research and development investments and efficiently utilize their research and development costs. Additional mergers and acquisitions in the biotechnology and pharmaceutical industries may cause even more resources being concentrated in our competitors. Additionally, smaller or early-stage companies of which we may not be aware could also prove to be material competitors, particularly through collaborative arrangements with larger, more well-established companies or by competing with us for limited resources and strategic alliances with our current or prospective partners. Competition may increase further because of advances in the commercial applicability of technologies and greater availability of capital for investment in these industries. Our competitors may develop, acquire or license drug products that are more effective or less costly than any product candidate we may develop.

The programs we are focusing on are in a preclinical d or early clinical development stage and are targeted toward indications for which there are approved products on the market or product candidates in clinical development. We will face competition from other drugs that are or will be approved for the same therapeutic indications. Our ability to compete successfully will depend largely on our ability to leverage our experience in drug discovery and development to:

The availability of our competitors’ products could limit the demand, and the price we can charge, for any products we may develop and commercialize. For example, the widespread distribution of COVID-19 treatments and vaccines will reduce the demand for any therapeutic product we develop to treat symptoms caused by the virus, particularly as new competing products are developed and approved by the FDA and other regulators. We will not achieve our business plan if the acceptance of our products is inhibited by price competition or the reluctance of physicians to switch from existing drug products to our products, or if physicians switch to other new drug products or reserve our products for use in limited circumstances. Additionally, the biopharmaceutical industry is characterized by rapid technological and scientific change, and we may not be able to adapt to these rapid changes to the extent necessary to keep up with competitors or at all. The inability to compete with existing or subsequently introduced drug products would have a material adverse impact on our business, financial condition and prospects.

Established pharmaceutical companies may invest heavily to accelerate discovery and development of novel compounds or to in-license novel compounds that could make our product candidates less competitive. Any new product that competes with an approved product must typically demonstrate advantages, such as in efficacy, convenience, tolerability or safety, to overcome price competition and to succeed. Our competitors may obtain patent protection, receive approval by FDA and/or foreign regulatory authorities or discover, develop and commercialize product candidates before we do, which would have a material adverse impact on our business.

Our business could be negatively impacted by cybersecurity threats and other security threats and disruptions.

Because our business relies on proprietary technology and computer systems, we face certain security threats, including threats to our information technology infrastructure, attempts to gain access to our proprietary or confidential information, threats to physical security, and domestic terrorism events. Our information technology networks and related systems are critical to the operation of our business and our research and development efforts. We are also involved with information technology systems for certain third parties, which generally face similar security threats. Cybersecurity threats in particular, are persistent, evolve quickly and include, but are not limited to, computer viruses, attempts to access information, denial of service and other electronic security breaches believe that we have implemented appropriate measures and controls and invested in skilled information technology resources to appropriately identify threats and mitigate potential risks, but there can be no assurance that such actions will be sufficient to prevent disruptions to critical systems, the unauthorized release of confidential information or corruption of data. A security breach or other significant disruption involving these types of information and information technology networks and related systems could:

Any or all of the foregoing could have a material negative impact on its business, financial condition and prospects.

Failure of our information technology infrastructure to operate effectively could adversely affect our business.

We depend on information technology infrastructure to pursue our business objectives and development efforts with respect to our product candidates. If a problem occurs that impairs this infrastructure, including as a result of an outage or malfunctioning of the hardware and software comprising or contributing to the information technology, the resulting disruption could impede our ability to proceed with research objectives in a timely manner, or otherwise carry on business in the normal course. Any such events could cause us to lose opportunities or progress with respect to product candidates or strategic alliances, and could require us to incur significant expense to remediate.

Artificial intelligence presents risks and challenges that can negatively impact our business.

Artificial intelligence-based platforms and tools are increasingly being used in the biopharmaceutical, pharmaceutical, and consumer health industries. As with many technological innovations, artificial intelligence presents risks and challenges that could impact our business. While our current use of artificial intelligence-based platforms or tools in our business is relatively minimal, many of our competitors have begun utilizing artificial intelligence tools to aid in the development of pharmaceutical products. Our decision to not implement artificial intelligence platforms or tools may put us at a competitive disadvantage in comparison to competitors who currently use artificial intelligence platforms and tools in the development of pharmaceutical products.

As artificial intelligence expands, our competitors, which may have significantly greater financial and human capital resources, may use artificial intelligence to further their research efforts and advance competitive product candidates through clinical trials.

In the future, we may adopt and integrate artificial intelligence platforms and/or tools into our business. Further, any third-party collaborators may incorporate artificial intelligence platforms and tools into their business without disclosing this to us, and the providers of these artificial intelligence platforms and tools may not meet existing or rapidly evolving regulatory or industry standards with respect to privacy and data protection. If our third-party collaborators who use artificial intelligence platforms or tools experience an actual or perceived breach related incident because of the use of artificial intelligence, we may lose valuable intellectual property, confidential information, and suffer reputational damage. Further, bad actors around the world use increasingly sophisticated methods, including the use of artificial intelligence, to engage in illegal activities involving the theft and misuse of personal information, confidential information, and intellectual property. Any of these outcomes could damage our reputation, result in the loss of valuable property and information, and adversely impact our business.

The commercial success of our product candidates will depend upon the acceptance of these product candidates by the medical community, including physicians, patients and healthcare payors.

Assuming one or more product candidates achieve regulatory approval and we commence marketing such products, the market acceptance of any product candidates will depend on several factors, including:

If we obtain regulatory approval for one product candidate, we expect sales to generate substantially all of our product revenues, and as such, the failure of such product to find market acceptance would adversely affect our results of operations.

If insurance and/or government coverage and adequate reimbursement are not available for our product candidates, it could impair our ability to achieve and maintain profitability.

Market acceptance and sales of any product candidates we develop will depend on coverage and reimbursement policies of third-party payors. Government authorities and third-party payors, such as private health insurers, hospitals and health maintenance organizations, decide which drugs they will pay for and establish reimbursement levels. Coverage and adequate reimbursement may not be available for some or all of our product candidates. As patients generally rely on third-party payors to reimburse all or part of the costs associated with their treatment, inadequate reimbursement amounts may reduce the demand for, or the price of, our future products. Thus, the availability of adequate coverage and reimbursement from governmental healthcare programs, such as Medicare and Medicaid, and commercial payors is critical to new product acceptance.

Obtaining coverage and reimbursement approval of a product from a government or other third-party payor is a time-consuming and costly process, and no uniform policy of coverage and reimbursement for products exists among third-party payors in the United States. A primary trend in the U.S. healthcare industry is cost containment. Third-party payors have attempted to control costs by limiting coverage and the amount of reimbursement for particular products. Further, third-party payors are increasingly challenging prices charged for pharmaceutical products, and many third-party payors may refuse to provide coverage and reimbursement for particular drugs when an equivalent generic drug or a less expensive therapy is available. There can be no assurance that coverage and reimbursement will be available for any product we commercialize. Even if we obtain coverage for a given product, the resulting reimbursement payment rates might not be adequate for us to achieve or sustain profitability or may require co-payments that patients find unacceptable. If reimbursement is not available, or is available at limited levels, we may not be able to successfully commercialize product candidates we develop.

Due to the change in the United States presidency and upcoming election, we and our industry face uncertainty including the potential for increased regulation, which may adversely affect our business.

President Biden has expressed a desire to make healthcare more affordable, including adopting new laws and working with federal agencies in a manner which may adversely affect our business through an increase in regulatory efforts. At the senior administrative level, new regulators with a regulatory zeal may tighten existing regulations and that approach may also be taken in the routine interactions between staff and our scientists and others. For example, in December 2023, the Biden Administration announced its intention to lower prescription drug costs and address certain features of the current healthcare sector, such as the focus on insurance and consolidation. These rules or other regulatory developments which may occur in the future could have an adverse impact, directly or indirectly, on our operations or on the operations of our collaborators. These trends and potential future government action, particularly at the federal level, are highly uncertain and we expect will be dependent to some extent on the outcome of the next presidential election later this year. If President Biden is elected for another four-year term, he could take further action on the issues his administration has previously addressed. Contrarily, if former President Trump (or another Republican candidate) were elected, there will be a de-emphasis on regulation. Increased regulation and enforcement may lead to increased costs and further delays in getting approvals, which may adversely affect our business.

Pricing pressures on our drug candidates, including as the result of proposed legislative changes, may negatively impact our future results of operations.

There have been numerous legislative and regulatory proposals to change the healthcare system in the United States and in some foreign jurisdictions that could affect our ability to sell products profitably. President Biden has expressed support for implementing a new health plan that would rely on a “Medicare-like” public option for individuals who are not on Medicare and transition to a Medicare-for-All single payor system in the future. Among other things, such a system may seek to:

Additionally, beginning in 2022 the Biden administration proposed legislation and policy changes to implement a number of regulatory changes to make affordable healthcare available for a larger number of Americans, including by lowering the costs of prescription drugs. A 2022 legislative proposal included measures that would allow the government to negotiate prices of certain prescription drugs under Medicare and would redesign the Medicare Part D benefit to limit patient out-of-pocket drug costs and shift liabilities among stakeholders, including manufacturers. Following the proposal, the Inflation Reduction Act was enacted later in 2022 which provides for lower cost prescription drugs and vaccines in Medicare and other federal programs, including by establishing a $2,000 annual cap on out-of-pocket drug costs for Medicare participants beginning in 2025. In a similar vein, in October 2022, President Biden issued an executive order to address concerns about the high costs of prescription drugs in the U.S., wherein the Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services (“HHS”) was tasked with evaluating potential new health care payment and delivery models designed to lower drug costs and promote access to innovative drug therapies for beneficiaries enrolled in the Medicare and Medicaid programs, including models that may lead to lower cost-sharing for commonly used drugs and support value-based payment that promotes high-quality care. In its responsive report, the HHS indicated that it was “full steam ahead in delivering cost savings” and identified three potential price-reducing models for further consideration, as well as other areas for further research. A similar initiative covering a broader scope of activities and intended actions (including addressing drug prices and industry consolidation and control) was again released by the White House in December 2023. Like the Inflation Reduction Act, certain of the recent or newly proposed regulatory changes will be subject to Congressional approval, and we cannot predict what, if any, of these broad proposals or other legislation or regulation will pass or otherwise be implemented, particularly with a divided Congress.

At the state level, individual states are increasingly aggressive in passing legislation and implementing regulations designed to control drug pricing, including price or patient reimbursement constraints, discounts, restrictions on certain product access and marketing cost disclosure and transparency measures. In addition, regional healthcare authorities and individual hospitals are increasingly using bidding procedures to determine which pharmaceutical products and suppliers will be included in their prescription drug and other healthcare programs. These measures could reduce the ultimate demand for our products, or put pressure on our product pricing. The availability of generic treatments may also substantially increase pricing pressures on, and reduce reimbursement for, our future products. The potential application of user fees to generic drug products may expedite approval of additional generic drug treatments. We expect to experience additional pricing pressures in connection with the sale of any of our products, due to the trend toward managed healthcare, the increasing influence of health maintenance organizations and additional legislative changes.

In some non-U.S. jurisdictions, the proposed pricing for a drug must be approved before it may be lawfully marketed. The requirements governing drug pricing vary widely from country to country. The European Union, or EU, provides options for its member states to restrict the range of medicinal products for which their national health insurance systems provide reimbursement and to control the prices of medicinal products for human use. A member state may approve a specific price for the medicinal product or it may instead adopt a system of direct or indirect controls on the profitability of the company placing the medicinal product on the market. There can be no assurance that any country that has price controls or reimbursement limitations for pharmaceutical products will allow favorable reimbursement and pricing arrangements for our products, if any are approved. Historically, products launched in the EU do not follow price structures of the U.S. and tend to be priced significantly lower.

If we are unable to establish sales and marketing capabilities or enter into agreements with third parties to market and sell our product candidates, we may be unable to generate any revenues from product sales.

We do not have a team with experience in the sales, marketing and distribution of pharmaceutical products and the cost of establishing and maintaining such an organization may exceed the cost-effectiveness of doing so. To market any products that may be approved, we must build our sales, marketing, managerial and other non-technical capabilities or arrange with third parties to provide these services.

Our current and future partners may not dedicate sufficient resources to the commercialization of our product candidates or may otherwise fail in their commercialization efforts due to factors beyond our control. If we are unable to establish effective alliances to enable the sale of our product candidates to healthcare professionals and in geographical regions, including the United States, that will not be covered by our own marketing and sales force, or if our potential future strategic partners do not successfully commercialize the product candidates, our ability to generate revenues from product sales will be adversely affected.

If we are unable to establish adequate sales, marketing and distribution capabilities, whether independently or with third parties, we may not be able to generate sufficient product revenue and may not become profitable. We will be competing with many companies that have extensive and well-funded marketing and sales operations. Without an internal team or the support of a third-party to perform marketing and sales functions, we may be unable to compete successfully against these more established companies.

If we obtain approval to commercialize any approved products outside of the United States, a variety of risks associated with international operations could materially adversely affect our business.

If any of our product candidates are approved for commercialization, we may enter into agreements with third parties to market them on a worldwide basis or in more limited geographical regions. We expect we will be subject to additional risks related to entering into international business relationships, including:

If we lose key management or scientific personnel, cannot recruit qualified employees, directors, officers, or other personnel or experience increases in our compensation costs, our business may materially suffer.

We depend on principal members of our executive and research teams; the loss of whose services may adversely impact the achievement of our objectives. We are highly dependent on our President and Co-Chief Executive Officer, Dr. Sam Lee and our Chief Financial Officer and Co-Chief Executive Officer, James Martin. We may be unable to locate a new Chief Executive Officer capable of running our company effectively, and any such individual will require high compensation in a competitive market for experienced and qualified personnel within our industry. We do not carry “key-man” life insurance on any of our employees or advisors. Furthermore, our future success will also depend in part on the continued service of our key scientific and management personnel and our ability to identify, hire, and retain additional personnel. We may not be able to attract and retain personnel on acceptable terms, as there is significant competition among numerous pharmaceutical companies for individuals with similar skill sets. Because of this competition, our compensation costs may increase significantly. If we lose key employees, our business may suffer.

If we expand our organization, we may experience difficulties in managing growth, which could disrupt our operations.

As of March 28, 2024, we have 12 full-time employees. As our Company matures, we expect to expand our employee base to increase our managerial, scientific and operational, commercial, financial and other resources and to hire more consultants and contractors. Future growth would impose significant additional responsibilities on our management, including the need to identify, recruit, maintain, motivate and integrate additional employees, consultants and contractors. Also, our management may need to divert a disproportionate amount of its attention away from our day-to-day activities and to manage these growth activities. We may not be able to effectively manage the expansion of our operations, which may cause weaknesses in our infrastructure, and give rise to operational mistakes, loss of business opportunities, loss of employees and reduced productivity among remaining employees. Our expected growth could require significant capital expenditures and may divert financial resources from other projects, such as developing additional product candidates. If our management cannot effectively manage our growth, our expenses may increase more than expected, our ability to generate and/or grow revenues could be reduced, and we may not be able to implement our business strategy. Our future financial performance and our ability to commercialize product candidates and compete effectively will depend, in part, on our ability to manage our future growth.

Any relationships with customers and third-party payors may be subject, directly or indirectly, to federal and state healthcare fraud and abuse laws, false claims laws and health information privacy and security laws. If we are unable to comply, or have not fully complied, with such laws, we could face criminal sanctions, civil penalties, contractual damages, reputational harm and diminished profits and future earnings.

If we obtain FDA approval for any of our product candidates and commercialize those products in the United States, our operations may be directly, or indirectly through our customers, subject to various federal and state fraud and abuse laws, including, without limitation, the federal Anti-Kickback Statute and the federal False Claims Act. These laws may impact, among other things, our proposed sales, marketing and education programs. We may be subject to patient privacy regulation by the federal government and by the U.S. states and foreign jurisdictions in which we conduct our business. The laws that may affect our ability to operate include:

If our operations are found to violate any of the laws described above or any other governmental regulations that apply to us, we may be subject to penalties, including, without limitation, civil and criminal penalties, damages, fines, possible exclusion from Medicare, Medicaid and other government healthcare programs, and curtailment or restructuring of our operations, which could adversely affect our ability to operate our business and our results of operations.

Because we face potential product liability if claims are brought against us, we may incur substantial liability and costs.

Using our product candidates in clinical trials and the sale of any products for which we obtain marketing approval exposes us to the risk of product liability claims. Product liability claims might be brought against us by consumers, healthcare providers, pharmaceutical companies or others selling or otherwise coming into contact with our products. If we cannot successfully defend against product liability claims, we could incur substantial liability and costs. Regardless of merit or eventual outcome, product liability claims may cause:

Insurance coverage is becoming increasingly expensive and we may not be able to maintain insurance coverage at a reasonable cost or in sufficient amounts to protect us against losses due to liability. If and when we obtain marketing approval for product candidates, we intend to expand our insurance coverage to include the sale of commercial products; however, we may be unable to obtain product liability insurance on commercially reasonable terms or in adequate amounts. Occasionally, large judgments have been awarded in class action lawsuits based on drugs that had unanticipated adverse effects. A successful product liability claim or series of claims brought against us could cause our stock price to decline and, if judgments exceed our insurance coverage, could adversely affect our results of operations and business.

Business interruptions resulting from pandemics, natural disasters and adverse weather events could cause delays in research and development of our product candidates.

Our principal offices are in Bothell, Washington where we conduct our scientific research. We also maintain a small finance and accounting office in Miami, Florida and an administrative office in Australia. In addition, our Influenza A Phase 1 program has been dependent on one or more CROs and their facilities located in Australia for Phase 1 and will depend on one or more CROs in the United Kingdom for Phase 2a for the furtherance of our research and development efforts as to that product. We also rely on Australian CROs for our coronaviruses and norovirus programs. We and third parties on which we rely are vulnerable to natural disasters such as earthquakes, tornados, severe storms, hurricanes, tsunamis, and fires, as well as other events that could disrupt our operations and cause delays in research and development of our product candidates. We do not carry insurance for natural disasters or similar events, and we may not carry sufficient business interruption insurance to compensate us for losses that may occur. Any losses or damages we incur could have a material adverse effect on our operations.

If our information technology systems are compromised, the information we store and process, including our intellectual property, could be accessed, publicly disclosed, lost or stolen, which could harm our business, relationships with strategic partners and future results of operations.

Companies are increasingly suffering damage from attacks by hackers and there is a general risk that adversaries in geopolitical conflicts such as those taking place in Ukraine and in the Middle East adopt widespread Internet hacking as a weapon, which hacking may ultimately affect us. In the ordinary course of business, we store sensitive information, such as our intellectual property, including trade secrets and results of our clinical and preclinical research, and that of our suppliers and business partners, on a central server, and such information is transmitted via email correspondence. The secure maintenance and processing of this information is critical to our research and development activities and future operations. Despite our security measures, our information technology and infrastructure may be vulnerable to attacks by hackers or breaches due to employee error, malfeasance or other disruptions. Any such breach could compromise our information technology systems and the information stored there could be accessed by third parties, publicly disclosed, lost or stolen. Any such unauthorized access, disclosure, misappropriation or other loss of information could result in disruption of our operations, including our existing and future research collaborations, and damage our reputation, which in its turn could harm our business and future results of operations.

If we fail to comply with applicable laws and regulations, including environmental, health and safety laws and regulations, we could become subject to fines or penalties or incur costs that could have a material adverse effect on our business.

We are subject to numerous environmental, health and safety laws and regulations, including those governing laboratory procedures and the handling, use, storage, treatment and disposal of hazardous materials and wastes, and the treatment of animals used in research. Our operations involve using hazardous and flammable materials, including chemicals and biological materials. Our operations also produce hazardous waste products. We generally contract with third parties for the disposal of these materials and wastes. We cannot eliminate the risk of contamination or injury from these materials. If contamination occurs or injury results from our use of hazardous materials, we could be held liable for any resulting damages, and any liability could exceed our resources. We also could incur significant costs associated with civil or criminal fines and penalties.

The federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration has established extensive requirements relating to workplace safety for health care employers, including clinical laboratories, whose workers may be exposed to blood-borne pathogens such as the hepatitis C virus. These requirements, among other things, require work practice controls, protective clothing and equipment, training, medical follow-up, vaccinations and other measures designed to minimize exposure to, and transmission of, blood-borne pathogens. In addition, the Needlestick Safety and Prevention Act requires, among other things, that we include in our safety programs the evaluation and use of engineering controls such as safety needles if found to be effective at reducing the risk of needlestick injuries in the workplace.

Although our workers’ compensation insurance may cover us for costs and expenses, we may incur additional costs due to injuries to our employees resulting from the use of hazardous materials or other work-related injuries, and this insurance may not provide adequate coverage against other potential liabilities. We may incur substantial costs to comply with current or future environmental, health and safety laws and regulations. These current or future laws and regulations may impair our research, development or production efforts. Failure to comply with these laws and regulations also may cause substantial fines, penalties or other sanctions.

If we fail to comply with Nasdaq’s minimum bid price requirement in the future, it could result in delisting of our common stock, negatively affect the price of our common stock and limit investors’ ability to trade in our common stock.

Our common stock is listed on The Nasdaq Capital Market (“Nasdaq”). Nasdaq rules impose certain continued listing requirements, including the minimum $1 bid price, corporate governance standards and number of public stockholders. In November 2021 we were notified by Nasdaq that we are not compliant with its closing bid price requirement because the closing bid price of our common stock was below $1.00 per share for 30 consecutive trading days. Because our common stock failed to trade at higher levels so that we could regain compliance with the Nasdaq minimum closing bid price, our Board recommended and our stockholders approved a reverse stock split subject to further Board approval. In order to regain compliance with the Nasdaq minimum bid provision, we effected a 1-for-12 reverse stock split by amending our Certificate of Incorporation on October 11, 2022.

Previously in December 2019 and again in November 2020, we failed to comply with the Nasdaq minimum bid price but were able to regain compliance without effecting a reverse stock split at those times.

Additionally, a reverse stock split typically has the effect of reducing the number of holders of shares in “round lots,” meaning those holding 100 or more shares. Another requirement for being listed on Nasdaq is that the Company have a minimum of 300 round lot holders. While the bid price of our common stock was $[XX] on March [XX], 2024. If we again fail to comply with Nasdaq’s minimum bid price, it is possible in the future that we will again have to seek stockholder approval, which we may not obtain particularly since retail investors often oppose reverse splits or do not vote and a reverse split requires the approval of the holders of the majority of the outstanding shares of our common stock.

RISKS RELATED TO OUR COMMON STOCK

Our stock price and trading volume has historically been volatile, and any increases in these metrics may be temporary for a number of reasons, which may cause investors to lose money.

Our stock price and trading volume is volatile, and the limited periods in which there were increases to our stock price and trading volume have historically been temporary in nature. Therefore, there can be no assurance that our stock price or trading volume will increase in the future, permanently or at all. For example, in order to increase our stock price above the $1.00 Nasdaq bid price minimum requirement, we effected a 1-for-12 reverse stock split on October 22, 2022. In the months leading up to the reverse split, the closing prices for our common stock (as retroactively adjusted for the reverse split) declined from $5.03 in late August 2022 down to $2.75 on October 10, 2022, and declined further following the reverse split taking effect to below $2.00 on certain dates in December 2022 and February 2023. More recently, our common stock fell from as high as $3.14 in August 2023 to $1.46 in November 2023, and it has hovered around that range since. Our common stock may continue to be volatile and could materially fall for a number of reasons including:

If the current price is reduced, investors may sustain large losses.

Due to factors beyond our control, our common stock price may be volatile, or may decline regardless of our operating performance, and you may not be able to resell your shares.

The market price of our common stock will depend on a number of factors, many of which are beyond our control and may not be related to our operating performance. These fluctuations could cause you to lose all or part of your investment in our common stock since you might be unable to sell your shares at or above the price you paid. Factors that could cause fluctuations in the market price of our common stock include the following:

In addition, in the past, following periods of volatility in the overall market and the market price of a particular company’s securities, securities class action litigation has often been instituted against these companies. Any litigation, if instituted against us, could result in substantial costs and a diversion of our management’s attention and resources.

Because of geopolitical conflicts, central bank actions to combat inflation and other major events, the effect on the capital markets and the economy is uncertain, and we may have to deal with a recessionary economy and economic uncertainty including possible material adverse effects upon our business.

Beginning with the Russian invasion of Ukraine, certain events began to affect the global and United States economy including increased inflation, increases in the prices of commodities such as oil and gas, large Western companies ceasing to do business in Russia and uncertain capital markets with declines in leading market indexes. In 2023 another conflict arose in Israel which has also added to the uncertainty. The duration of these events and their impact are at best uncertain and continuation may result in negative consequence on the U.S. or global economies. Further, in March 2023 two major U.S. banks collapsed, while certain other banks faced extreme financial difficulty and had to seek immediate sources of liquidity to remain open. These developments were widely considered a product of the increase in interest rates that began in 2022 as the Federal Reserve in U.S. and central banks in other jurisdictions have sought to combat inflation. While in the U.S. inflation has since declined, uncertainty remains as to the timing of the Federal Reserve reducing interest rates, and if inflation does not fall low enough and/or the Federal Reserve declines to reduce interest rates in the near term, the result could be tipping the U.S. economy into a recession. In the wake of these events, the U.S. and global capital markets have demonstrated volatility, as many investors consider economic outlooks to be uncertain . While the capital markets have since recovered, ultimately the economy may turn into a recession with uncertain and potentially severe impacts upon public the capital markets and us. We cannot predict how this will affect our business, but the impact may be material and adverse.

Future issuances of our common stock or rights to purchase our common stock could cause additional dilution of the percentage ownership of our stockholders and could cause our stock price to fall.

During the year ended December 31, 2023 we conducted a private sale of a total of 2,030,458 shares of our common stock for gross proceeds of $4,000,000, and did not conduct any public offerings. We expect that our current cash position will be sufficient to fund our operations over the next 12 months subject to the many uncertainties and risks that may rise such as those described herein, significant additional capital may be needed in the future to continue our planned operations. To the extent we have raised and continue to raise additional capital by issuing equity securities, our stockholders may experience substantial dilution. We may sell common stock, convertible securities or other equity securities in one or more transactions at prices and in a manner, we determine from time to time. If we sell common stock, convertible securities or other equity securities in more than one transaction, investors may be materially diluted by subsequent sales. These sales may also result in material dilution to our existing stockholders, and new investors could gain rights superior to our existing stockholders.

Future sales of large amounts of our common stock in the public market or a perception that such sales might occur could cause a decrease in our stock price.

As of March 28, 2024, out of approximately 10.2 million shares of common stock outstanding, approximately 6.8 million are either free trading or may be sold without volume or manner of sale limitations under Rule 144. The remainder of our shares, because they are held by our officers, directors and one 5% stockholder subject to a voting agreement, who we deem affiliates, are subject to additional restrictions as described below.

In general, Rule 144 provides that any person who is not an affiliate of the Company and has not been an affiliate for 90 days, and who has held restricted common stock for at least six months, is entitled to sell their restricted stock freely, provided that we remain subject to the Exchange Act reporting requirements and stay current in our SEC filings.

The shares of common stock outstanding which are held by affiliates of the Company are subject to additional restrictions. An affiliate may sell the greater of (i) one percent of our outstanding stock or (ii) as long as our common stock is listed on Nasdaq, the average weekly trading volume over a prior four-week period after a six-month holding period with the following restrictions:

Additionally, as of December 31, 2023, we had approximately 558,000 options and 11,000 warrants outstanding that, if fully exercised, would result in the issuance of 569,000 shares of common stock and approximately 275,000 shares of common stock remain available for future grants under the Cocrystal Pharma, Inc. 2015 Equity Incentive Plan.

Future sales of substantial amounts of shares of our common stock in the public market, or the perception that those sales may occur, could cause the market price of our common stock to decline significantly, even if our business is performing well.

External pressures and requirements which may arise related to, environmental, social and governance (“ESG”) matters, and any undertakings or disclosure by us which may result, would expose us to numerous risks, including risks to our reputation and stock price.

In recent years, institutional and individual investors focused on ESG screening criteria to determine whether certain equity securities such as our common stock should be included in their investment portfolios, although certain states are resisting using ESG criteria. A growing number of investors, regulators, self-regulatory organizations and other stakeholders have expressed an interest in setting often-ambitious ESG goals and to require the provision of new and more robust disclosure and implementation of such goals, including progress toward the goals and other matters of interest to ESG stakeholders. However, in January 2024, two large financial firms, JP Morgan Asset Management and State Street Global Advisors, retreated from the Climate Action 100+ investor compact, which launched in 2017 as a collaborative investor group working to influence large corporate emitters of greenhouse gasses to commit to net zero targets and introduce climate-related governance and disclosure processes. Further, it is reported investors pulled a total of $13 billion out of ESG-focused investment funds during the 2023 fiscal year. In December 2023, House Republicans subpoenaed BlackRock and State Street Global Advisors, requesting documents and communications relating to their respective advancement of ESG policies in connection with an ongoing investigation into current antitrust laws.

While the large financial firms’ exit from ESG initiatives may spark a larger trend of stepping away from ESG-related investment decisions, it is uncertain how the market at large will respond. If we decide to report any of the Company’s ESG-related efforts, goals, or objectives, we could be presented with numerous material operational, reputational, financial, legal and other risks, any or all of which could have a material negative impact, including on our reputation and stock price. For example, any ESG objectives or policies we implement, be it in response to new laws, regulations or rules (including any that may in the future be implemented by the SEC or Nasdaq), actions taken by self-regulatory organizations, investors or other stakeholders, or otherwise, could cause us to expend significant capital and human resources and/or divert management’s attention from central operational matters. Further, any failure by us to accurately disclose and effectively carry out ESG undertakings, which may include forward-looking proposals based on assumptions and subject to factors beyond our control, could expose us to reputational harm, government enforcement or private litigation, and stock price and volume volatility.

Our ability to use our net operating loss carry forwards and certain other tax attributes may be limited.

Under Section 382 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 if a corporation undergoes an “ownership change,” generally defined as a greater than 50% change (by value) in its equity ownership over a three-year period, the corporation’s ability to use its pre-change net operating loss carry forwards (“NOLs”), and other pre-change tax attributes (such as research tax credits) to offset its post-change income may be limited. We believe that, with the RFS Pharma, LLC and Cocrystal Discovery, Inc. mergers and other transactions that have occurred more than seven years ago, we may have triggered an “ownership change” limitation. We may also experience ownership changes in the future because of subsequent shifts in our stock ownership. If we generate taxable income, our ability to use our pre-change NOLs carry forwards to offset U.S. federal taxable income may be subject to limitations, which could result in increased future tax liability to us. At the state level, there may be periods during which the use of NOLs is suspended or otherwise limited, which could accelerate or permanently increase state taxes owed.

Because we may not attract the attention of major brokerage firms, it could have a material impact upon the price of our common stock.

It is possible that securities analysts of major brokerage firms will not provide research coverage for our common stock. The absence of such coverage limits the likelihood that an active market will develop for our common stock. It may also make it more difficult for us to attract new investors when we acquire additional capital.

We may issue preferred stock which could make it more difficult for a third-party to acquire us and could depress our stock price.

In accordance with the provisions of our Certificate of Incorporation and the Stockholder Rights Agreement described above, our Board may issue one or more additional series of preferred stock that have more than one vote per share, so long as the Board obtains the majority approval of the stockholders who formerly held our Series A Convertible Preferred Stock, which is no longer authorized. This could permit our Board to issue preferred stock to investors who support our management and give effective control of our business to our management. Issuance of preferred stock could block an acquisition resulting in both a drop in our stock price and a decline in interest of our common stock. This could make it more difficult for stockholders to sell their common stock. This could also cause the market price of our common stock shares to drop significantly, even if our business is performing well.

Our amended and restated Bylaws provide for an exclusive forum in the Court of Chancery of the State of Delaware for certain disputes between us and our stockholders, and the exclusive forum in the Delaware federal courts for the resolution of any complaint asserting a cause of action under the Securities Act and the Exchange Act.

Our amended and restated Bylaws provide that unless the Company consents in writing to the selection of an alternative forum, the Court of Chancery of the State of Delaware (or, if such court does not have subject matter jurisdiction thereof, the U.S. District Court of Delaware) will, to the fullest extent permitted by law, be the sole and exclusive forum for: (i) any derivative action or proceeding brought on behalf of the Company (except to the extent that the Exchange Act provides otherwise), (ii) any action asserting a claim of breach of a fiduciary duty owed by any director or officer (or affiliate of any of the foregoing) of the Company to the Company or the Company’s stockholders, (iii) any action asserting a claim arising pursuant to any provision of the Delaware General Corporation Law, the Company’s Certificate of Incorporation or Bylaws, or (iv) any other action asserting a claim arising under, in connection with, and governed by the internal affairs doctrine. The amended and restated Bylaws further provide that unless the Company consents in writing to the selection of an alternative forum, the federal district courts of the United States of America located in Delaware will be the exclusive forum for the resolution of any complaint asserting a cause of action arising under the Securities Act or the Exchange Act and any person or entity purchasing or otherwise acquiring or holding any interest in shares of capital stock of the Company will be deemed to have notice of and consented to these provisions.

We believe these provisions may benefit us by providing increased consistency in the application of Delaware law and federal securities laws by chancellors and judges, as applicable, particularly experienced in resolving corporate disputes, efficient administration of cases on a more expedited schedule relative to other forums and protection against the burdens of multi-forum litigation. If a court were to find the choice of forum provision that is contained in our amended and restated Bylaws to be inapplicable or unenforceable in an action, we may incur additional costs associated with resolving such action in other jurisdictions, which could materially adversely affect our business, results of operations, and financial condition. For example, Section 22 of the Securities Act provides that state and federal courts have concurrent jurisdiction over claims to enforce any duty or liability created by the Securities Act or the rules and regulations promulgated thereunder. Accordingly, there is uncertainty as to whether a court would enforce such a forum selection provision as written in connection with claims arising under the Securities Act. To date, the Delaware Supreme Court has upheld the exclusive jurisdiction provisions in certificates of incorporation for claims under the Securities Act. However, two different federal Court of Appeals reached conflicting decisions with one Court ruling that a forum selection clause was unenforceable as to a derivative claim that was brought under the Exchange Act. Further, to date no court has ruled on the exclusive venue provision for claims under the Securities Act and the other Court ruling it was enforceable. Accordingly, if a stockholder files a Securities Act claim or an Exchange Act claim in a federal court and we seek to rely upon the Delaware venues, we may not be successful.

Because the choice of forum provisions in our Bylaws may have the effect of severing certain causes of action between federal and state courts, stockholders seeking to assert claims against us or any of our current or former directors, officers, other employees, agents, or stockholders, may be discouraged from bringing such claims due to a possibility of increased litigation expenses arising from litigating multiple related claims in two separate courts. Additionally, a stockholder could face uncertainty as to which jurisdiction and venue a case will ultimately be heard in, particularly given that variations in facts, circumstances and the particular provisions at issue often alter the legal analysis and judicial interpretation, which may delay, prevent or impose additional obstacles on the stockholder in such litigation. The choice of forum provisions may therefore limit a stockholder’s ability to bring a claim in a judicial forum that it finds favorable for, or otherwise present obstacles and challenges in connection with, disputes with us or any of our current or former director, officer, other employee, agent, or stockholder.

Item 1B. Unresolved Staff Comments

Not applicable.

Item 1C. Cybersecurity

Like all companies that utilize technology, we are subject to threats of breaches of our technology systems. To mitigate the threat to our business, we take a comprehensive approach to cybersecurity risk management. Our Board and our management actively oversee our risk management program, including the management of cybersecurity risks. We have established policies, standards, processes and practices for assessing, identifying, and managing material risks from cybersecurity threats, including those discussed in our Risk Factors. We have devoted financial and personnel resources to implement and maintain security measures to meet regulatory requirements and shareholder expectations, and we intend to continue to make investments to maintain the security of our data and cybersecurity infrastructure. While there can be no guarantee that our policies and procedures will be properly followed in every instance or that those policies and procedures will be effective, we believe that the Company’s sustained investment in people and technologies have contributed to a culture of continuous improvement that has put the Company in a position to protect against potential compromises, and we do not believe that risks from prior cybersecurity threats have materially affected our business to date. We can provide no assurance that there will not be incidents in the future or that past or future attacks will not materially affect us, including our business strategy, results of operations, or financial condition.

Item 2. Properties

We have operating facilities in Bothell, Washington and Miami, Florida, as well as an administrative facility in Melbourne, Australia.

We lease approximately 15,400 square feet of office and laboratory space in Bothell, Washington under a lease agreement expiring in January 2031.

We also lease office space in Miami, Florida under a lease that expires in August 2024.

The Company believes that its properties are suitable for their intended purposes and have capacities adequate for current and projected needs related to the Company’s programs.

Item 3. Legal Proceedings

From time to time, the Company is a party to, or otherwise involved in, legal proceedings arising in the normal course of business. As of the date of this Report, except as described below, the Company is not aware of any proceedings, threatened or pending, against it which, if determined adversely, would have a material effect on its business, results of operations, cash flows or financial position.

Liberty Insurance Underwriters Inc. (“Liberty”) filed suit against us in federal court in Delaware seeking a declaratory judgment that there was no insurance coverage for any settlement, judgment, or defense costs in the class and derivative litigation, that the monies totaling approximately $1 million it paid to the Company in connection with the SEC investigation were not covered by insurance, and for recoupment of the monies already paid. We had retained counsel to defend us which had filed an answer to the complaint denying its material allegations, as well as a counterclaim against Liberty for breach of contract, declaratory judgment, bad faith and violation of the Washington State Consumer Protection Act, alleging among other things that Liberty wrongfully denied the Company’s claims for coverage of the class and derivative litigations, and seeking money damages. Liberty Insurance Underwriters Inc. filed suit against us in federal court in Delaware seeking a declaratory judgment that there was no insurance coverage for any settlement, judgment, or defense costs in the class and derivative litigation, that the monies totaling approximately $1 million it paid to the Company in connection with the SEC investigation were not covered by insurance, and for recoupment of the monies already paid. On June 7, 2022, the court filed a Stipulation and Order for Entry of Judgment in the amount of $1,359,064 in favor of Liberty (the “Judgment”) following summary judgment granted by the court to Liberty on all but one of the matters at issue in the case. The Company filed an appeal in July 2022. On March 29, 2023, the Third Circuit ruled in favor of the Company on the appeal, thereby vacating the trial court’s prior grant of summary judgment in favor of Liberty. As a result of this ruling, the case has been remanded to the District Court for trial on the merits of the Company’s coverage claims for defense and settlement costs. The Court had ordered the return of the $1.6 million. On August 8, 2023, the Company received $1.6 million as refunded by the registry of the court. On November 16, 2023, prior to commencement of a new trial which had been scheduled for December 4, 2023, the parties entered into a settlement agreement pursuant to which Liberty paid the Company $1 million and each party released the other from its respective claims and rights arising from the matter. There is no further litigation with Liberty following this settlement.

Item 4. Mine Safety Disclosures

Not applicable.

PART II

Item 5. Market for Registrant’s Common Equity, Related Stockholder Matters and Issuer Purchases of Equity Securities

Market Information

Our common stock is traded on The Nasdaq Capital Market under the symbol “COCP”. As of March 28, 2024, there were approximately 434 holders of record of our common stock.

Dividend Policy

We have not declared nor paid any cash dividend on our common stock, and we currently intend to retain future earnings, if any, to finance the expansion of our business, and we do not expect to pay any cash dividends in the foreseeable future. The decision whether to pay cash dividends on our common stock will be made by our board of directors, in their discretion, and will depend on our financial condition, results of operations, capital requirements and other factors that our board of directors considers significant. Our ability to pay cash dividends is governed by applicable provisions of Delaware law.

Unregistered sales of equity securities

All unregistered sales of our equity securities during the period covered by this Annual Report on Form 10-K have been previously reported.

Item 6. Selected Financial Data

As a smaller reporting company as defined in Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act, we are not required to include information otherwise required by this item.

Item 7. Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations

The following discussion and analysis should be read in conjunction with the Consolidated Financial Statements included elsewhere in this report.

Company Overview

We develop novel medicines for use in the treatment of human viral diseases. Cocrystal has been developing novel technologies and approaches to create first-in-class and best-in-class antiviral drug candidates since 2008. Our focus is to pursue the development and commercialization of broad-spectrum antiviral drug candidates that will transform the treatment and prophylaxis of viral diseases in humans. By concentrating our research and development efforts on viral replication inhibitors, we plan to leverage our infrastructure and expertise in these areas.

During our year ended December 31, 2023, the following key aspects of our business advanced:

Pandemic and Seasonal Influenza A

Pandemic and Seasonal Influenza A/B Program

Oral Protease Inhibitor CDI-988

Replication Inhibitors

Results of Operations

Research and Development Expense

Research and development expenses consist primarily of compensation-related costs for our ten employees dedicated to research and development activities and for our Scientific Advisory Board members, as well as lab supplies, lab services, and facilities and equipment costs.

Total research and development expenses were $15,169,000 for the year ended December 31, 2023, compared with $12,392,000 for the year ended December 31, 2022. The increase of $2,777,000 was primarily due to advancing our influenza lead candidate CC-42344 through a Phase 1 trial and preparation for a Phase 2a clinical trial planned for 2023, as well as advancing our lead COVID-19 clinical oral candidate CDI-988 in preparation for a Phase 1 clinical trial planned for 2023.

General and Administrative Expense

General and administrative expenses include compensation-related costs for our employees dedicated to general and administrative activities, legal fees, audit and tax fees, consultants and professional services, and general corporate expenses.

General and administrative expenses were $5,990,000 for the year ended December 31, 2023, compared with $5,745,000 for the year ended December 31, 2022. This increase of $245,000 was primarily due professional fees and litigation.

In the ordinary course of business, the Company entered into non-cancellable related party leases for its facilities (see Note 14 – Transactions with Related Parties in the Consolidated Financial Statements).

Goodwill Impairment

During the six months ended June 30, 2022, the Company saw a significant decrease in its price of common stock resulting in an overall reduction in market capitalization and our recorded net book value exceeded our market capitalization as of June 30, 2022. Pre-impairment, the carrying value of the reporting unit exceeded the market capitalization of the Company at June 30, 2022 and concluded that goodwill was impaired in its entirety and recorded during the second quarter ended June 30, 2022 a $19,092,000 non-cash impairment. As of December 31, 2023 and 2022, the Company had no remaining goodwill.

Legal Settlement

In July 2022, the Company filed a legal appeal and deposited $1.6 million with the United State District Court for the District of Delaware as security during pending our appeal. During the second quarter ended June 30, 2022, the Company recorded a legal judgement for this amount inclusive of estimated costs. During the third quarter of 2023, the Company received a $1.6 million refund from the registry of the court reflecting the recovery of funds following a successful appeal in the Company’s litigation with an insurer. During November 2023, a settlement agreement was executed and the insurer paid the Company an additional $1.0 million. There is no further litigation with the insurer following the settlement. See “Item 3. Legal Proceedings” for more information

Total other Income/Expense

Total other income was $575,000 for the year ended December 31, 2023, compared to total other expense of $8,000 for the year ended December 31, 2022. This increase of $583,000 was primarily due to interest income discussed below.

Interest income was $640,000 for the year ended December 31, 2023, compared to interest expense of $2,000 for the year ended December 31, 2022. The interest income in 2023 was related to interest earned from cash held in banks and deposits with court registry and the expense in 2022 was related to finance lease agreements.

We also had foreign exchange loss of $65,000 and $18,000 for the years ended December 31, 2023 and 2022, respectively, related to currency exchange rate measurements with regards to our Australian operations.

Net Loss

We had a net loss of $17,984,000 for the year ended December 31, 2023, compared to a net loss of $38,837,000 for the year ended December 31, 2022. This decrease of $20,853,000 was primarily due to a $19,092,000 non-cash impairment-loss of goodwill in 2022 and offset by increases in research and development expenses in 2023 due transition from clinical trial phase I to phase II of our CC-42344 product, and compensated by the increase efforts in the initiation of clinical trial phase I for CDI-988 and other product candidates.

Liquidity and Capital Resources

For the year ended December 31, 2023, net cash used in operating activities was $14,666,000, compared to net cash used in operating activities of $21,435,000 for the year ended December 31, 2022. The decrease in cash used in operating activities in 2023 as compared to 2022 was attributable to the decrease of operating costs related to our COVID-19 and influenza-A clinical trials.

For the year ended December 31, 2023, net cash used in investing activities netted to $118,000, which consisted of capital expenditures for lab equipment, software, and networking for our Lab located in Bothell, Washington. For the year ended December 31, 2022, our net cash used in investing activities consisted of $74,000.

For the year ended December 31, 2023, net cash provided by financing activities was $3,993,000, compared to net cash used by financing activities of $27,000 for the year ended December 31, 2022. Net cash provided by financing activities in 2023 was result of a raise of $4,000,000 in a private placement sale of common stock.,

We expect that our reported cash balance will be sufficient to support the Company’s working capital needs for the 12 months following the filing of this Report.

Developing pharmaceutical products, including conducting preclinical studies and clinical trials, is capital-intensive. As a rule, research and development expenses increase substantially as a company advances a product candidate toward clinical programs. Historically, we have financed our operations with the proceeds from public and private equity and debt offerings, including additional investments by certain existing stockholders, and entered into strategic partnerships and collaborations for the research, development and commercialization of product candidates. Because we have an influenza A product candidate that is currently in a Phase 2a clinical trial and a pan-viral coronavirus & norovirus product candidate that is currently in a Phase 1 clinical trial we may need to raise additional capital to support our operations or form partnerships and collaborative alliances. Such funding may not be available to us on acceptable terms, or at all.

The Company is party to the At-The-Market Offering Agreement, dated July 1, 2020 (“ATM Agreement”) with H.C. Wainwright & Co., LLC (“Wainwright”), pursuant to which the Company may issue and sell over time and from time to time, to or through Wainwright, up to $10,000,000 of shares of the Company’s common stock. In January 2021, the Company sold 1,030,000 shares of its common stock pursuant to the ATM Agreement for net proceeds of approximately $2.1 million. There have been no sales under the ATM Agreement since then.

Cautionary Note Regarding Forward Looking Statements

This Annual Report includes forward-looking statements within the meaning of The Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, including statements regarding our plans for the future development of preclinical and clinical drug candidates, our expectations regarding future characteristics of the product candidates we develop, the expected time of achieving certain value driving milestones in our programs, including, preparation, commencement and advancement of clinical studies for certain product candidates in 2024, our expectations with respect to market opportunities for certain product candidates and our plans regarding further clinical development of such product candidates, our search for collaboration partners following the termination of agreements with Merck and KSURF, our expectations regarding future operating results, statement regarding the suitability and adequacy of our properties and capital resources, and our future liquidity.

The words “believe,” “may,” “estimate,” “continue,” “anticipate,” “intend,” “should,” “plan,” “could,” “target,” “potential,” “is likely,” “will,” “expect” and similar expressions, as they relate to us, are intended to identify forward-looking statements. We have based these forward-looking statements largely on our current expectations and projections about future events and financial trends that we believe may affect our financial condition, results of operations, business strategy and financial needs.

The results anticipated by any or all of these forward-looking statements might not occur. Important factors, uncertainties and risks that may cause actual results to differ materially from these forward-looking statements include inflation, the possibility of recession, interest rate increases and the conflicts in Ukraine and Israel on our Company, our collaboration partners, and on the U.S., U.K., Australia and global economy, including manufacturing and research delays arising from raw materials and labor shortages, supply chain disruptions and other business interruptions including any adverse impacts on our ability to obtain raw materials and test animals as well as similar problems with our vendors and our current and any future CROs and CMOs, the results of the studies for CC-42344 and CDI-988, the ability of our CROs to recruit volunteers for, and to proceed with, clinical studies, our and our collaboration partners’ technology and software performing as expected, financial difficulties experienced by certain partners, the results of future preclinical and clinical trials, general risks arising from clinical trials, receipt of regulatory approvals, regulatory changes, development of effective treatments and/or vaccines by competitors, including as part of the programs financed by the U.S. government, and potential mutations in a virus we are targeting which may result in variants that are resistant to a product candidate we develop. Further information on such uncertainties and risks is contained in the “Risk Factors” in Item 1A of this this Annual Report. We undertake no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as the result of new information, future events or otherwise. For more information regarding some of the ongoing risks and uncertainties of our business, see “Item 1A – Risk Factors” and our other filings with the SEC.

Critical Accounting Policies and Estimates

Our management’s discussion and analysis of our financial condition and results of operations is based on our consolidated financial statements, which have been prepared in accordance with U.S. Generally Accepted Accounting Principles, or GAAP. The preparation of these consolidated financial statements requires us to make estimates and judgments that affect the reported amounts of assets, liabilities and expenses. On an ongoing basis, we evaluate these estimates and judgments, including those described below. We base our estimates on our historical experience and on various other assumptions that we believe to be reasonable under the circumstances. These estimates and assumptions form the basis for making judgments about the carrying values of assets and liabilities that are not readily apparent from other sources. Actual results and experiences may differ materially from these estimates. While our significant accounting policies are more fully described in the accompanying notes to the consolidated financial statements included in this Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2023, we believe that the following accounting policies are the most critical to aid you in fully understanding and evaluating our reported financial results and affect the more significant judgments and estimates that we use in the preparation of our consolidated financial statements.

Stock-Based Compensation

We account for stock options related to our equity incentive plans under the provisions of Financial Accounting Standards Board (“FASB”) Accounting Standards Codification (“ASC”) 718 which requires the recognition of the fair value of stock-based compensation. The fair value of stock options is estimated using a Black-Scholes option valuation model. This model requires the input of subjective assumptions including expected stock price volatility, expected life and estimated forfeitures of each award. The fair value of equity-based awards is amortized over the requisite service period of the award. Due to the limited amount of historical data available to us, particularly with respect to stock-price volatility, employee exercise patterns and forfeitures, actual results could differ from our assumptions.

Recently Issued Accounting Standards

See discussion in Note 2 to the consolidated financial statements.

Item 7A. Quantitative and Qualitative Disclosures About Market Risk

Not applicable.

Item 8. Financial Statements

The consolidated financial statements of Cocrystal Pharma, Inc. required by this Item are described in Item 15 of this Annual Report on Form 10-K and are presented beginning on page F-1.

COCRYSTAL PHARMA, INC.

INDEX TO CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS

REPORT OF INDEPENDENT REGISTERED PUBLIC ACCOUNTING FIRM

Board of Directors and Stockholders

Cocrystal Pharma, Inc.

Opinion on the Consolidated Financial Statements

We have audited the accompanying consolidated balance sheets of Cocrystal Pharma, Inc. (the “Company”) and subsidiaries as of December 31, 2023 and 2022, the related consolidated statements of operations, stockholders’ equity, and cash flows for the years then ended, and the related notes (collectively referred to as the “consolidated financial statements”). In our opinion, the consolidated financial statements present fairly, in all material respects, the financial position of the Company at December 31, 2023 and 2022, and the results of its operations and its cash flows for the years then ended, in conformity with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America.

Basis for Opinion

These consolidated financial statements are the responsibility of the Company’s management. Our responsibility is to express an opinion on the Company’s consolidated financial statements based on our audits. We are a public accounting firm registered with the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board of the United States (“PCAOB”) and are required to be independent with respect to the Company in accordance with the U.S. federal securities laws and the applicable rules and regulations of the Securities and Exchange Commission and the PCAOB.

We conducted our audits in accordance with the standards of the PCAOB. Those standards require that we plan and perform the audit to obtain reasonable assurance about whether the consolidated financial statements are free of material misstatement, whether due to error or fraud. The Company is not required to have, nor were we engaged to perform, an audit of its internal control over financial reporting. As part of our audit, we are required to obtain an understanding of internal control over financial reporting but not for the purpose of expressing an opinion on the effectiveness of the Company’s internal control over financial reporting. Accordingly, we express no such opinion.

Our audits included performing procedures to assess the risks of material misstatement of the consolidated financial statements, whether due to error or fraud, and performing procedures that respond to those risks. Such procedures included examining, on a test basis, evidence regarding the amounts and disclosures in the consolidated financial statements. Our audits also included evaluating the accounting principles used and significant estimates made by management, as well as evaluating the overall presentation of the consolidated financial statements. We believe that our audits provide a reasonable basis for our opinion.

Critical Audit Matter

Critical audit matters are matters arising from the current-period audit of the financial statements that were communicated or required to be communicated to the audit committee and that (1) relate to accounts or disclosures that are material to the financial statements and (2) involved our especially challenging, subjective, or complex judgments. We determined that there are no critical audit matters.

We have served as the Company’s auditor since 2019.

Weinberg & Company, P.A.

Weinberg & Company, P.A

Los Angeles, California

March 28, 2024

COCRYSTAL PHARMA, INC.

CONSOLIDATED BALANCE SHEETS

(in thousands, except per share data)

See accompanying notes to consolidated financial statements.

COCRYSTAL PHARMA, INC.

CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF OPERATIONS

(in thousands, except per share data)

See accompanying notes to consolidated financial statements.

COCRYSTAL PHARMA, INC.

CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF STOCKHOLDERS’ EQUITY

(in thousands)

See accompanying notes to consolidated financial statements.

COCRYSTAL PHARMA, INC.

CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF CASH FLOWS

(in thousands)