On Jan. 27, 2022, Cocrystal Pharma announced that it had selected two investigational novel antiviral drug candidates for further development as oral treatments for SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19.

CDI-988 and CDI-873 target a highly conserved region in the active site of SARS-CoV-2 main (3CL) protease required for viral RNA replication. Cocrystal planned to initiate a first-in-human trial with one selected candidate in 2022.