As the generic drug giant pushes to capitalize on more novel therapies, Teva Pharmaceutical ($TEVA) has invested an initial $7.5 million in Bothell, WA-based developer Cocrystal Discovery to advance its work on new drugs targeting the hepatitis C virus. If it likes what it sees, Teva has the option to pump more money into the upstart, which is focused on small-molecule antiviral drugs.
Hep C has attracted lots of pharma investment due to the white-hot market opportunity for developing oral drugs that home in on viral replication enzymes. Upping its bet on the hep C game after Vertex ($VRTX) and Merck ($MRK) hit the market this year with protease inhibitors against the liver-wrecking virus, Teva has gained an option for exclusive development rights to Cocrystal's drug. The generic drugmaker also has the option to back Cocrystal's development of antiviral drugs for other diseases. The start-up now has programs in influenza and the common cold.
The Teva deal appears to be one of the biggest cash influxes at Cocrystal since the upstart's $10 million funding from billionaire Philip Frost's The Frost Group in 2008. As Xconomy's Luke Timmerman notes, Frost is also the chairman of Teva. So Cocrystal might have benefited from one major backer's association with its new investor. Frost is also chairman of OPKO Health ($OPK), which owns about 16% of Cocrystal. Teva could take up to a 23% ownership stake in little Cocrystal if it pulls the trigger on all of its options to further back the upstart's programs.
- here's the OPKO release
- see Xconomy's report