{"id":5299,"date":"2014-11-28T11:13:09","date_gmt":"2014-11-28T11:13:09","guid":{"rendered":"\/?p=5299"},"modified":"2014-11-28T11:13:13","modified_gmt":"2014-11-28T11:13:13","slug":"cocrystal-pharma-inc-otcbbcocp-gets-interesting-again","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"\/articles\/cocrystal-pharma-inc-otcbbcocp-gets-interesting-again\/","title":{"rendered":"Cocrystal Pharma Inc (OTCBB:COCP) Gets Interesting Again"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The start of Tuesday’s session was pretty uneventful for Cocrystal Pharma Inc (OTCBB:COCP<\/a>). The ticker opened the day slightly below its previous close and it remained flat during the first twenty minutes. Then, however, the company announced a merger and everything changed. It wasn’t just any merger. It was a merger with a company called RFS Pharma LLC – the brainchild of Dr. Raymond Schinazi.<\/p>\n

Once you do some research on Dr. Schinazi, you’ll see that he is quite famous in the pharmaceutical field. He has taken part in the development of numerous treatments for a variety of diseases and according to Wikipedia, more than 90% of HIV-infected people around the world take at least one of the drugs he invented. <\/p>\n

So, it’s fair to say that he knows his way around the periodic table and his expertise has brought him quite a lot of notoriety. He also appears to be something of a celebrity in the investment world, by the way.<\/p>\n

Dr. Schinazi is the founder of a company called Idenix Pharmaceuticals Inc which was once traded on the NASDAQ stock exchange under the IDIX symbol. A few months ago, IDIX was acquired by Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK<\/a>) for a total of $3.85 billion<\/strong>. He is also the man behind Pharmasset (VRUS) and Triangle Pharmaceuticals (VIRS) – two companies that were acquired by Gilead Sciences, Inc. (NASDAQ:GILD<\/a>) for $11 billion<\/strong> and $464 million<\/strong>, respectively.<\/p>\n

All in all, Dr. Schinazi is a very successful man and his involvement with COCP<\/a><\/strong> was bound to have an effect on the stock. It did.<\/p>\n

COCP<\/a><\/strong> managed to add 15% and it finished Tuesday’s session at $0.53 per share. Yesterday, it cooled down which seems a bit strange in light of the good news, but it only slipped by about 2% and many people will attribute the correction to the pre-holiday mood among investors.<\/p>\n

COCP<\/a><\/strong> currently stands at around $0.52 per share which results in a market cap of just over $63 million and you might be wondering right now if the company really deserves this sort of valuation.<\/p>\n

The merger with RFS is certainly a move in the right direction and the fact that Dr. Schinazi agreed to it speaks volumes about COCP<\/a><\/strong>‘s reputation. It should also be noted that the balance sheet isn’t as horrific as what we’re used to seeing from pharmaceutical OTC companies. Here’s a summary of the figures as of September 30:<\/p>\n