June 03, 2026
BOTHELL, Wash., June 03, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Cocrystal Pharma Inc. (Nasdaq: COCP) (“Cocrystal” or the “Company”), a clinical-stage biotechnology company developing novel therapeutics to meet the growing need for effective, safe antiviral treatments, has appointed James Sapirstein Chief Executive Officer, effective immediately. The Company also plans to appoint Mr. Sapirstein as a member of the Board of Directors. He has extensive pharmaceutical industry leadership and development experience. Mr. Sapirstein replaces Sam Lee and Jim Martin, who served as Co-Chief Executive Officers. Sam Lee will continue as President and transition to Chief Scientific Officer, and Jim Martin will continue as Chief Financial Officer.
“James brings the right experience in the biopharma business as we’re accelerating the advancement of multiple clinical programs,” said Roger Kornberg, Ph.D., Chairman of Cocrystal Pharma. “We have known him for many years, and our management team and board are appreciative of his decision to join us as Chief Executive Officer.”
Mr. Sapirstein commented, “Cocrystal’s pipeline comprises transformative antivirals developed using its structure based drug discovery platform. We are well positioned with the right technology and team to create meaningful benefits for patients as well as our shareholders. The potential to address the need for new antivirals is highly motivating for me with my product development and launch background.”
Mr. Sapirstein has participated in or led 23 product launches. He has also driven numerous business development transactions. Mr. Sapirstein was Chief Executive Officer of Contravir Pharmaceuticals, served as the founding Chief Executive Officer of Tobira Therapeutics, and as Executive Vice President, Metabolic and Endocrinology, for Serono Laboratories.
Earlier in his career, he held senior marketing and commercialization positions, at Gilead Sciences and director of international marketing of the infectious disease division at Bristol Myers Squibb.
Mr. Sapirstein is a member of several industry boards and previously served as Chairman of BioNJ as well as Biotechnology Innovation Organization board member for more than a decade. He is also a founding member of the board of advisors of the Miami Biotech Collective.
About Cocrystal Pharma’s Structure-Based Drug Discovery Platform
Cocrystal Pharma is leveraging its structure based drug discovery platform technology to design next generation antiviral candidates that precisely target viral replication mechanisms. By binding to highly conserved regions of viral enzymes, the Company’s compounds aim to maintain potency against mutating strains while minimizing off target effects, offering potentially safer, broad spectrum antiviral solutions. This approach streamlines candidate identification and optimization, enabling more rapid progression of promising therapies with robust resistance and safety profiles.
The Company’s platform provides a three dimensional structure of inhibitor complexes at near-atomic resolution, providing immediate insight to guide Structure Activity Relationships. This helps identify novel binding sites and enables a rapid turnaround of structural information through highly automated X-ray data processing and refinement. This technology permits the development of novel broad spectrum antivirals.
About Cocrystal Pharma
Cocrystal Pharma Inc. is a clinical stage biotechnology company discovering and developing novel antiviral therapeutics that target the replication process of noroviruses, influenza viruses, coronaviruses (including SARS-CoV-2), and hepatitis C viruses. Cocrystal employs unique structure based technologies to create viable antiviral drugs. For more information, visit www.cocrystalpharma.com.