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On September 29, 2026 Decoy reported that a single intranasal dose of DCOY-CoV kept drug levels above its designed antiviral concentrations for up to seven days in nasal mucosal and lung tissue in preclinical studies, a profile that supports a once-weekly dosing hypothesis. The company guides clinical entry to 2027 and was scheduled to present to investors in New York on October 1. Funding is the other half of the story: about $3.85 million raised on September 23 through a warrant inducement, new warrants at $3.25, and a June 30 going-concern warning.
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The September 23 Form 8-K commits Decoy to file a registration statement covering the resale of the shares issuable on exercise of the new warrants within 15 calendar days of the September 22 inducement letter, which places the deadline on October 7, 2026, and to use commercially reasonable efforts to have it declared effective. No such filing appears on EDGAR through October 2, 2026. The filing is procedural: it raises no money and does not mean any warrant has been exercised, but it is the step that makes those shares freely resaleable once effective. The scientific checkpoint is DCOY-CoV clinical entry, which the company guides only to 2027, with no month, jurisdiction or protocol yet disclosed. SEC Form 8-K, September 23, 2026
After September 23, 2026 Decoy has warrants at $3.25 on 2,368,868 new-warrant shares, 1,184,434 Series C shares and 592,217 Series A shares: about 4.15 million shares in total, by Merlintrader’s sum of the Form 8-K and Form 10-Q terms. The new warrants are exercisable immediately and include cashless-exercise provisions; Series A and C remain tied to their clinical milestones. Against an estimated 1.9 million common shares after the Series B exercise (no official post-transaction count has been filed), full exercise would more than triple the share count, while cash exercise of all of them would bring in roughly $13.5 million gross. The reference close of $1.855 on October 1, 2026 sat below the $3.25 strike. Every exercise brings cash and new shares together. SEC Form 8-K
Preclinical tissue exposure for up to seven days supports studying a once-weekly intranasal DCOY-CoV regimen. If reproducible and tolerable in humans, that profile could support a practical development program. Clinical entry is company-guided for 2027. September 29 source
Non-dilutive support could help separate biodefence research costs from the company’s equity budget. The respiratory programme also offers a different route to human proof of concept through the planned work with hVIVO. These are potential advantages if the science translates and the programmes are funded; none establishes commercial success. A voucher would come much later and only with an eligible approval.
Tissue retention is not proven antiviral protection in people. Clinical translation, safety, manufacturing and financing remain unresolved. The September 23 warrant closing raised about $3.85 million gross but also introduced new warrants; it does not establish funding for the entire clinical program. September 29 source
Funding can also change the shareholder outcome even when the science progresses. Pre-funded warrants, milestone warrants and preferred stock make a small common-share count an incomplete picture of potential dilution. An exercise can bring capital and additional shares together. The reported going-concern uncertainty, the development stage and the lack of a dated filovirus decision leave substantial execution risk. At the October 1, 2026 reference close of $1.855 the new warrants were below their $3.25 strike, so the cash they can bring depends on the share price as much as on the science. This scenario is not a forecast of the share price.
According to its September 30 announcement, Decoy’s chief executive Rick Pierce was to deliver a corporate overview and take part in one-on-one investor meetings at The Small Cap Showcase in New York on October 1, 2026, two days after the September 29 DCOY-CoV pharmacokinetic release. The announcement says the lead program “targets many respiratory viruses as it advances toward the clinic” and adds no new data, financing or timeline. The September 23 Form 8-K, which confirmed the Series B warrant exercise and the new warrants, remains the latest SEC filing as of October 2, 2026. Company release, September 30, 2026
September 29, 2026 update. The September 29 question is whether prolonged tissue exposure can translate into a safe and protective human regimen. Drug retention is one component of that chain. It does not show prevention of infection, reduction in hospitalization or benefit in an immunocompromised patient. These outcomes require appropriately designed human studies. Company source
Two facts frame the picture on October 2, 2026. Scientifically, Decoy has preclinical evidence that one intranasal dose of DCOY-CoV keeps drug levels above its designed antiviral concentrations for up to seven days in nasal mucosal and lung tissue, and it guides clinical entry to 2027. Financially, it raised about $3.85 million gross on September 23 by inducing the exercise of 1,184,434 Series B warrants at a strike cut from $5.91 to $3.25, and in exchange issued new warrants on 2,368,868 shares at the same price. Its June 30 quarterly filing carried a going-concern warning and expected cash to last into late 2026, before that inflow.
The relevant milestones are evidence and financing: a defined candidate, animal protection, human safety and a sustainable capital plan. Clinical development, eligibility for a voucher and government procurement are distinct steps.
The September 30 announcement scheduled a corporate overview by Rick Pierce at 11:30 a.m. ET on October 1 in New York, with one-on-one investor meetings, at a single-day conference of about ten small-cap companies. It adds no new data or financing; the lead program is described as advancing toward the clinic.
In preclinical studies a single intranasal dose kept drug levels above designed antiviral concentrations for up to seven days in nasal mucosal and lung tissue. Chief technology officer Michael Lipp presented the data at the Boulder Peptide Symposium’s Peptide Showcase. Clinical entry is guided to 2027.
The holder exercised all 1,184,434 Series B warrants at a strike cut from $5.91 to $3.25, for about $3.85 million gross, and received immediately exercisable new warrants on 2,368,868 shares at $3.25. A corrective release clarified that no shareholder approval is needed.
Decoy reported cell-based activity against Ebola Zaire and Marburg from molecules designed for filovirus fusion inhibition, and outlined a potential FDA Animal Rule pathway and non-dilutive funding. No FDA agreement, grant award or voucher was announced.
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September 29, 2026 update. A constructive next step would pair reproducible exposure and acceptable safety with a funded human-study plan. The intermediate case is promising PK that still needs formulation, toxicology and dose work. The adverse case includes failure to translate exposure into protection, local or systemic toxicity, delays or financing on dilutive terms. Company source
Scientific risk: potency may not persist in a relevant organism, exposure may be insufficient, or safety may limit dosing. Breadth can also prove narrower than suggested by the original hypothesis. A convincing protection experiment must still be followed by a development package.
Execution and financing risk: regulatory requirements, laboratory capacity, formulation and manufacturing can consume time and cash. Grant applications are competitive and may impose restricted uses. Equity funding can arrive with substantial dilution. The September 23 Series B transaction is closed; additional proceeds from other warrants remain conditional on exercise.
Base scenario — Merlintrader interpretation: the company continues preclinical optimisation and financing discussions without a near-term approval milestone. Constructive developments would be funded work and a clearer route to human safety and animal efficacy. Adverse developments would include disappointing protection, delays or financing terms that absorb much of the value created.
As of October 2, 2026, the confirmed calendar is mostly financial. By October 7, 2026 Decoy must file the resale registration statement for the shares underlying the 2,368,868 new warrants, under the September 22 inducement letter. Until October 22, 2026, thirty days after that letter, the company agreed, subject to exceptions, not to issue shares or equivalents or to file other registration statements. The quarterly report for the period ending September 30, 2026 is due in mid-November under the standard 45-day schedule for a company of this size; it will provide the first balance sheet that includes the September 23 proceeds. The Q2 filing states that the June 26 placement bars the use of the at-the-market programme and the equity line for 180 days, which, counted from that agreement, runs to late December 2026. Separately, the inducement letter bars variable-rate transactions, subject to exceptions, until 180 days after the resale registration becomes effective, but carves out an at-the-market facility with the placement agent from 30 days after effectiveness; the 180-day ATM bar from the June placement still applies alongside it.
Merlintrader interpretation: none of these dates is a scientific readout. They mark when the company’s financing options open or close and when investors will see updated company financial statements again. The scientific calendar remains year-only: clinical entry for DCOY-CoV in 2027.
Sources: FDA Animal Rule · 10-Q 12/08/2026 · Decoy 22/09/2026 · 8-K 23/09/2026
Merlintrader reads Decoy as an early preclinical antiviral company with an encouraging exposure profile, a 2027 clinical ambition and a financing structure that depends on warrants priced at $3.25. These observations would contradict that reading.
None of these is a prediction. They are the observations that would make the reading above wrong, listed so that a reader can check them rather than take it on trust.
Decoy Therapeutics is the renamed public company following the combination of Salarius and Legacy Decoy. The merger closed in November 2025; the legal name changed in January 2026. The listed ticker is $DCOY. Its history includes legacy oncology assets, while its present corporate emphasis is peptide-based antivirals.
That distinction matters when reading older filings, trial records or historical price charts. A Salarius oncology study is not evidence that a Decoy antiviral has entered human testing. Likewise, share counts from before a reverse split cannot be compared directly with the current count. The March 2026 split was one-for-twelve, and the quarterly filing adjusts historical share figures.
The company describes its core platform as IMP³ACT and its antiviral candidates as Designable Multi-Antivirals, or D-MAVs. These are development technologies and candidates. The quarterly filing reports no products approved for commercial sale and no product sales.
The legacy Salarius assets are still on the books but no longer drive the budget. The Q2 Form 10-Q describes two small molecules: SP-3164, a targeted protein degrader, and seclidemstat (SP-2577), which holds FDA fast track designation in Ewing sarcoma. Decoy supported the MD Anderson investigator-sponsored study of seclidemstat with azacitidine in myelodysplastic syndromes and chronic myelomonocytic leukaemia through December 2025; no further enrolment is planned, and the company is seeking strategic alternatives for the programme, including out-licensing. It intends to fold SP-3164 into a new class of peptide-based degraders it calls P-PROTACs. The spending split shows where the priority lies: in the second quarter of 2026, research and development on the IMP³ACT antiviral platform was $1,278,578, against $25,767 for SP-2577 and nothing for SP-3164.
Merlintrader interpretation: a buyer or licensee for seclidemstat would be a source of non-dilutive cash, but no transaction has been announced, and a fast track designation in a rare paediatric cancer does not by itself carry a market value that can be added to the balance sheet.
Sources: 10-K 31/03/2026 · 10-Q 12/08/2026
Many enveloped viruses enter cells through a fusion process. Decoy designs peptide conjugates intended to interfere with elements of that machinery. Its proposition is that shared structural features may permit activity across more than one virus, while a common design-and-testing process supports subsequent candidates. The company’s September 29 description lists programmes in coronaviruses (COVID-19, MERS), paramyxoviruses (RSV, hPIV, Nipah, measles) and filoviruses (Ebola, Marburg); only the coronavirus and filovirus work has reported data in 2026.
IMP³ACT combines computational design, laboratory synthesis and experimental feedback. AI can help select molecules worth testing; it cannot replace the tests. A candidate still needs a useful concentration at the relevant tissue, sufficient stability, acceptable safety and a reproducible manufacturing process.
Merlintrader interpretation: platform breadth is valuable only when it produces development-quality molecules. Activity against two viruses does not by itself demonstrate an optimal medicine for both. Different exposure sites, disease courses and delivery needs can require different formulations or candidates.
September 29, 2026 update. The new DCOY-CoV result is a respiratory pharmacokinetic update, distinct from the September 22 in-vitro filovirus work. Chief technology officer Michael Lipp presented the initial PK dataset on September 29 at the Boulder Peptide Symposium’s Peptide Showcase in Napa Valley, California, according to the company. Company source
What the September 29 release does state is specific. Decoy describes a design concept it compares to the once-weekly GLP-1 injectables: lipid and peptide conjugation, built through the IMP³ACT platform, intended to make DCOY-CoV stay in tissue for longer. After a single intranasal dose, drug levels stayed above the company’s designed antiviral concentrations for seven days, and the company highlights high persistence in lung tissue as relevant to lower respiratory tract infection, the main driver of severe coronavirus illness. What it does not state is equally important: the animal species, the number of animals, the dose, the plasma or systemic exposure, the variability between animals, any tolerability finding, and how the “designed antiviral concentration” threshold was derived from cell-based potency data.
Merlintrader interpretation: a credible next dataset would show three things together. First, the exposure profile reproduced in a second species or study, with the dose and variability disclosed. Second, a challenge experiment in which animals given one dose a week are protected against infection or disease compared with controls. Third, early safety pharmacology and local tolerability in the nose and lung, because a molecule designed to linger in tissue also lingers where it could irritate. Until then the seven-day figure is an encouraging engineering result rather than evidence of protection.
The September 22 release follows the July 27 report of activity against wild-type Ebola Zaire in work at Texas Biomedical Research Institute, alongside Lassa virus activity. Decoy then pursued molecules designed specifically for filovirus fusion inhibition. The new announcement reports activity against Ebola Zaire and Marburg in cell-based work.
The corrected September 22 release gives the numbers. A first-generation de novo candidate reached a half-maximal inhibitory concentration (IC50) of 1.56 μM against wild-type Ebola Zaire in cell-based assays, which the company describes as more than five times as potent as its pan-coronavirus lead and seven times as potent as the benchmark antiviral remdesivir; the same candidate showed an IC50 of 1.04 μM against Marburg virus. These are the company’s cell-based figures, not independently reviewed data; replication, full assay methods and animal protection would show how much weight they deserve. A laboratory comparison with a benchmark antiviral is not a clinical head-to-head result and does not establish superiority in patients.
A pan-filovirus label is a research objective. Evidence against the named viruses cannot simply be extended to Sudan or Bundibugyo, every strain, or both pre-exposure and post-exposure use.
Sources: Decoy 22/09/2026 · Decoy 27/07/2026
FDA’s Animal Rule addresses limited situations in which human efficacy trials are unethical or infeasible. Suitable animal studies may supply effectiveness evidence, but human safety still has to be demonstrated. The animal results must support a reasonable expectation of benefit in humans, and the data must permit selection of an effective human dose.
Regulatory planning therefore includes model relevance, meaningful endpoints, pharmacokinetics, manufacturing and safety. A mechanism or an in vitro assay is not a substitute for the required evidence. Nor does announcing interest in the route confirm that FDA has accepted a particular development package.
Merlintrader interpretation: the programme becomes more concrete when the company describes what has been agreed with regulators, what studies are funded, and what evidence remains to be generated. An Animal Rule strategy does not mean automatic accelerated approval, a PDUFA date or a guaranteed shorter timetable.
Sources: FDA Animal Rule
Filovirus diseases are included in FDA’s tropical-disease voucher framework. Eligibility, however, depends on an approved application meeting the programme’s requirements. A voucher is not earned by publishing laboratory results or proposing an Animal Rule programme.
Award, transfer and eventual sale are separate events. Decoy’s discussion of potential voucher value describes a contingent future opportunity; no voucher proceeds are counted as present liquidity. Government procurement and inclusion in a stockpile would similarly need an actual decision or contract.
Merlintrader interpretation: assigning a full hypothetical voucher value to an early candidate skips development cost, funding, time, eligibility and failure risk. The more useful milestones are a funded study, a regulatory interaction with a clear outcome and later an eligible application. None carries a guaranteed commercial outcome.
Sources: FDA PRV · Decoy 22/09/2026
September 29, 2026 update. According to the September 29 release, DCOY-CoV is designed to protect against the endemic human coronaviruses OC43, 229E, NL63 and HKU1 as well as SARS-CoV-2; the company’s general description of its pipeline also lists MERS among its coronavirus targets. Decoy uses lipid and peptide-conjugate engineering to extend tissue residence. The commercial appeal of fewer administrations is an interpretation of the proposed regimen; patient adherence and weekly protective coverage have not been established in clinical use. The company states that DCOY-CoV is expected to enter clinical trials in 2027; in Merlintrader’s reading, that timing depends on development and regulatory execution. Company source
The target population is framed by company estimates, not by trial data. The release cites about 20 million immunocompromised or otherwise high-risk people in the United States and Europe and more than 15 million Americans living with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. It states that respiratory viruses are detected in about 40% of COPD flare-ups requiring hospital or emergency care, that 30-day mortality among hospitalised adults with endemic coronaviruses reaches up to 25%, and that, apart from COVID-19, there are no FDA-approved antiviral treatments or prophylactics for endemic human coronaviruses. It adds that people with COPD hospitalised with a viral respiratory infection have 50% higher odds of intensive-care admission and 90% higher odds of mechanical ventilation, and puts total U.S. direct medical cost of COPD at about $50 billion a year. These are the company’s figures, drawn from the medical literature it summarises; they describe the size of the problem, not the share of it that a product could address.
Merlintrader interpretation: the commercial argument rests on prevention in fragile patients rather than treatment of healthy adults with colds. That narrows the trials Decoy would need, but it also raises the bar: an immunocompromised or COPD population requires careful safety follow-up, and a weekly prophylactic must show it prevents meaningful outcomes, not only infections detected by swab. COVID-19 already has approved antivirals and vaccines, so any SARS-CoV-2 claim would be compared with existing options, while the endemic-coronavirus claim would be measured against no approved product at all.
The June 1 engagement with hVIVO covers translational modelling, regulatory strategy, manufacturing-related advice and preparation for Phase 1 and Phase 2a work. It supports a respiratory antiviral programme. It is not a completed clinical trial or a filovirus efficacy trial.
Human challenge studies deliberately expose appropriately selected participants under a controlled protocol. Their feasibility for a respiratory indication does not imply that a lethal filovirus can be studied the same way. The rationale for considering Animal Rule development is precisely the difficulty of obtaining conventional human efficacy evidence in the relevant setting.
The annual report placed an intended IND or CTA filing in the first half of 2027, and the Form 10-Q filed on August 12, 2026 repeats it: the company “continues on its intended path to file an IND application with the FDA or the European equivalent CTA during the first half of 2027” and anticipates higher research and development expense in upcoming quarters. That is a company objective, not a confirmed appointment, and the September 29 release speaks only of clinical entry in 2027. A filing should identify the candidate, jurisdiction, authorisation status and trial design before it is treated as a scheduled catalyst. A CTA in the European Economic Area would matter twice, because it is also the milestone that opens the Series A warrants.
The September 30 announcement of the October 1 Small Cap Showcase again describes the lead program as one that “advances toward the clinic”; it contains no new submission date. Company release, September 30, 2026
Sources: Decoy 29/09/2026 · Decoy 01/06/2026 · 10-K 31/03/2026 · 10-Q 12/08/2026
At June 30, total cash, cash equivalents and restricted cash were $8,289,108. Approximately $2.7 million was restricted under the Gates Foundation grant. The cash figure therefore cannot all be treated as freely deployable capital for a new filovirus programme.
First-half operating cash use was $5,541,348. Stockholders’ equity was $4,320,906 and total liabilities were $4,680,254. The filing said existing resources were expected to support restructured operations into late 2026 and disclosed substantial doubt about continuing as a going concern. These are the company’s statements at filing, not a verified September cash balance. The same filing lists, among its risks, the ability to keep complying with the Nasdaq minimum stockholders’ equity requirement of $2.5 million: against equity of $4,320,906 on June 30 and a first-half net loss of $4,598,428, that margin is what any further cash consumption erodes, and the company writes that non-compliance would affect the liquidity and trading of its shares.
Merlintrader calculation: subtracting the rounded restricted amount from total cash gives approximately $5.59 million outside that restriction. It is only a rough composition estimate. It is not net cash after obligations, and it does not determine an exact exhaustion date.
The income statement shows how quickly spending has changed since the merger. In the second quarter of 2026 research and development expense was $1,304,345, against $116,383 a year earlier, and general and administrative expense was $1,326,676, against $849,182. Grant revenue, derived entirely from the Gates Foundation grant, was $227,629. The quarterly net loss was $2,373,800, or $4.46 per share on 531,968 weighted-average shares. Within administration, professional services and consulting were $684,042 in the quarter and personnel costs $428,922.
The Gates Foundation money is tied to the coronavirus work. The 10-Q describes an initial award of about $904,000 made on September 6, 2021 for a nasally inhaled, low-cost peptide-conjugate pan-coronavirus inhibitor, and a 2023 supplemental grant of $4,084,500 for continued work on the same programme. Decoy received $3,500,000 on September 28, 2023; the remaining $584,500 depends on milestones. At June 30, 2026 about $2.7 million sat in restricted cash and deferred revenue for this grant, down from $2.9 million at December 31, 2025. The grant can therefore help fund DCOY-CoV work, but only for eligible costs and only as the work is done.
Merlintrader calculation: first-half 2026 operating cash use of $5,541,348 averages about $0.92 million a month. Adding the roughly $3.85 million gross raised on September 23 to the approximately $5.59 million of unrestricted cash at June 30, and subtracting three months at that average rate, gives an order of magnitude of $6.7 million at the end of September before placement-agent fees and other expenses, which are not disclosed. This is an illustration built on rounded inputs, not a reported balance; the quarterly report due in November will give the real figure. At the same average rate, that amount would cover roughly seven months of spending, far short of a funded clinical programme in 2027.
The September proceeds also matter for the listing. Cash received from warrant exercise is added to stockholders’ equity, so the September 23 transaction should widen the margin over Nasdaq’s $2.5 million minimum, while each quarter of losses narrows it again. Whether the company meets the requirement at September 30 will be visible only in the next filing.
Approximation using the rounded restricted-cash disclosure
Sources: 10-Q 12/08/2026 · 8-K 23/09/2026
On September 22, 2026 Decoy signed a warrant inducement letter with the holder of the June milestone warrants. The holder agreed to exercise for cash, in full, the Series B warrants on 1,184,434 shares, and Decoy cut their exercise price from $5.91 to $3.25. The warrants were exercised the same day and the transaction closed on September 23, for gross proceeds of approximately $3.85 million before placement-agent fees and other expenses. The resale of the shares issued on that exercise was already registered on the company’s effective Form S-1 (File No. 333-297381).
On September 23 the holder received new unregistered warrants for up to 2,368,868 common shares at $3.25, expiring five years from issuance, distinct from the shareholder vote on the June milestone package. A same-day correction replaced the original wording that they would become exercisable only upon stockholder approval.
The new warrants cover 200% of the shares under the exercised Series B warrants. They were issued in a private placement under Section 4(a)(2) of the Securities Act, carry customary anti-dilution adjustments and cashless-exercise provisions, and limit the holder to 9.99% beneficial ownership. The exercise price of the outstanding Series A and Series C milestone warrants was also reduced from $5.91 to $3.25, with their other terms unchanged. Net proceeds are intended for working capital and general corporate purposes. In the same letter Decoy accepted two restrictions: for 30 days, subject to exceptions, no issuance of shares or equivalents and no new registration statement; and, subject to exceptions, no variable-rate transaction until 180 days after the resale registration for the new-warrant shares becomes effective. One exception is explicit in the inducement letter: from 30 days after that registration becomes effective, sales through an at-the-market facility with the placement agent, Curvature Securities, as sales agent are not treated as a variable-rate transaction.
Gross proceeds are not net proceeds, and the repricing changes the June contingent-financing arithmetic: the June maximum can no longer be treated as an available funding amount.
Corrected company release — 22 September 2026 · Decoy — original announcement, 22 September 2026
The private placement closed on June 29 and produced approximately $3.5 million gross before fees. The purchase price was $5.91 per share or the corresponding pre-funded instrument. The announced maximum of roughly $21 million includes future milestone warrant exercise proceeds; it was not the upfront cash raised.
Original June terms, before the September 22 amendment: Series A is associated with a Phase 1 CTA filing in the European Economic Area; Series B with formal MHRA approval for a UK Phase 2a human challenge trial; Series C with the announcement that the UK Phase 2a trial met its primary endpoint. The stated additional gross amounts are approximately $3.5 million, $7 million and $7 million respectively, if fully exercised. The stated potential amounts use the original exercise prices and are historical; the new $3.25 strikes and Series B inducement supersede that funding arithmetic.
The September 14 vote addressed the original milestone package. The September 22 agreement separately provides for immediate exercise of Series B warrants, reprices Series A and C and grants new warrants exercisable upon issuance. It does not announce that the underlying clinical milestones have been achieved.
The Q2 filing also states that the June 26 placement prohibits use of the existing at-the-market equity programme (ATM) and equity line of credit (ELOC) for 180 days. This contractual restriction limits those funding channels; it does not mean every possible financing route is unavailable.
USD millions · gross amounts, before fees
Merlintrader calculation, from the share numbers in the Form 10-Q and the strikes in the Form 8-K. At the original $5.91 strike, the 592,217 Series A shares implied about $3.5 million and the 1,184,434 Series C shares about $7.0 million. At $3.25 the same warrants imply about $1.92 million and $3.85 million. The 2,368,868 new-warrant shares add up to about $7.70 million. If every remaining $3.25 warrant were exercised for cash, gross proceeds would total about $13.5 million, against roughly $17.5 million in the original June plan for Series A, B and C combined, while the number of shares that could be issued rose by 2,368,868.
| Instrument | Shares | Strike | Condition | Gross if exercised for cash |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Series B milestone warrants | 1,184,434 | $3.25 (was $5.91) | Exercised September 22, closed September 23, 2026 | ~$3.85M received, before fees |
| New inducement warrants | 2,368,868 | $3.25 | Exercisable immediately; five-year term; cashless exercise allowed | ~$7.70M |
| Series A milestone warrants | 592,217 | $3.25 (was $5.91) | Tied to a Phase 1 CTA filing in the European Economic Area | ~$1.92M |
| Series C milestone warrants | 1,184,434 | $3.25 (was $5.91) | Tied to the UK Phase 2a challenge trial meeting its primary endpoint | ~$3.85M |
The reference close of $1.855 on October 1, 2026 was below the $3.25 strike, so none of the remaining warrants was in the money at that date. Cash exercise becomes rational for a holder only above the strike, and a cashless exercise delivers shares without delivering cash.
Sources: Decoy 26/06/2026 · 8-K 15/09/2026 · 10-Q 12/08/2026 · 8-K 23/09/2026
September financing update. The new warrants issued on September 23 cover up to 2,368,868 additional shares that have not been issued; the Series A and C strikes were cut to $3.25, and the filing does not report their exercise. A resale registration for the new-warrant shares is due by October 7, 2026, a filing obligation rather than evidence of effectiveness. SEC Form 8-K
The latest dated common-share count located in the reviewed filings is 655,185 at August 11 on the 10-Q cover. The September 15 Form 8-K gives 590,185 for the July 20 meeting record date, a newer document describing an older measurement date. Neither is a fully diluted figure. The balance sheet showed 531,968 common shares at June 30, 2026, so 123,217 shares were added between June 30 and August 11.
Merlintrader interpretation: the June placement sold 592,217 shares “or pre-funded warrants in lieu thereof” at $5.91, and the June 30 share count had not yet moved, which is consistent with the purchaser taking pre-funded warrants and exercising part of them by August 11. Any pre-funded warrants still outstanding would add shares at a nominal $0.0001 exercise price. Merlintrader has found no filing stating how many, if any, remain.
The June 30 accounts list 4,699,381 warrants outstanding, 401,126 common shares underlying issued and reserved preferred stock, and 13,723 stock options. The warrant table explains the mix: 932,991 warrants outstanding at December 31, 2025 carried a weighted-average exercise price of $26.06, mostly the Series A and Series B warrants from the November 2025 offering plus 22,218 representative warrants at $27.90 expiring November 11, 2030; 3,766,500 warrants granted in the first half of 2026 at $5.91 then brought the June 30 weighted average down to $9.91. These categories have different terms and should not be casually added into a current share count. The filing’s treatment of potentially dilutive instruments for loss-per-share calculations does not eliminate their economic dilution risk.
On September 14 shareholders approved shares issuable under the milestone warrants, by 81,646 votes to 2,906, and an amendment reducing authorised common shares from 100 million to 90 million; 46.03% of the 590,185 record-date shares were represented. Authorised shares are a legal ceiling, not shares already issued.
Two further share movements are documented after the August 11 count. On August 31, 2026 the company granted 65,253 shares of restricted stock under its 2026 Equity Incentive Plan to four officers and six directors, reported on ten Form 4 filings dated September 2: 33,455 to chief executive Rick Pierce, 9,682 to chief financial officer Mark Rosenblum, 4,216 to chief scientific officer Barbara Hibner, 3,900 to chief business officer Peter Marschel and between 2,000 and 3,000 to each director. The four officers’ filings state that 25% vested immediately and the rest vests in roughly equal monthly instalments over 36 months; the directors’ grants vest in full on August 30, 2027. Then the September 22 Series B exercise added up to 1,184,434 shares.
Merlintrader calculation: 655,185 plus 65,253 plus 1,184,434 gives about 1.9 million common shares, assuming the Series B exercise was settled in common stock. No official post-transaction count has been filed, and a 9.99% ownership limit can delay delivery of shares to a holder. Third-party market-data aggregates as of October 2, 2026 show about 1.84 million shares outstanding and a float of about 1.60 million, short interest of about 0.66% of the float, institutional ownership of about 3.4% and insider ownership of about 12.9%. These aggregates are approximations that may lag filings. At the October 1 reference close of $1.855, about 1.9 million shares correspond to a market value of roughly $3.5 million, below the $8.29 million of cash, including restricted cash, reported at June 30.
The most recent ownership filing located is a Schedule 13G filed on August 14, 2026 by Armistice Capital and Steven Boyd, reporting 65,503 shares, or 9.99% of the class, at an event date of June 30, 2026. The September 8-K does not name the holder of the milestone warrants, and Merlintrader does not infer it.
Merlintrader interpretation: a tiny basic share count can make a headline capitalisation misleading if pre-funded instruments, warrants and conversion rights are ignored. Measured against about 4.15 million shares under $3.25 warrants and 401,126 shares underlying preferred stock, the 1.9 million common shares are a minority of the potential share base.
Sources: 10-Q 12/08/2026 · 8-K 15/09/2026 · 8-K 23/09/2026 · 8-K 15/09/2026 · Form 4 02/09/2026 · 13G 14/08/2026
On August 3 Decoy reported seven patent families and 19 pending applications across seven jurisdictions, covering antiviral conjugates, manufacturing, formulations and its design platform. Applications represent an attempt to secure protection. They do not guarantee enforceable claims, freedom to operate or commercial exclusivity.
The leadership page names Rick Pierce as chief executive, Barbara Hibner as chief scientific officer, Peter Marschel as chief business officer, Michael Lipp as chief technology officer and Mark Rosenblum as chief financial officer. Scientific, development and financing execution all matter for a programme at this stage.
Two September events are relevant to execution. The September 22 release on the warrant inducement had to be corrected the same day on whether the new warrants needed stockholder approval. And the August 31 restricted-stock grants align management with the share price over three years, with a quarter of the chief executive’s grant vesting immediately. Neither changes the science; both are part of how the company communicates and pays its team.
Sources: Decoy 03/08/2026 · Decoy
The combination of antiviral breadth, AI-assisted design, biodefence and possible non-dilutive funding can attract speculative attention. That is a description of the narrative, not a measured social-sentiment reading. No verified bullish/bearish split, message-volume score or analyst target note is included.
There is no verified dated FDA action or filovirus readout to count down to.
Investor outreach has intensified alongside the news flow: after the September 29 data the chief executive was scheduled to present at The Small Cap Showcase in New York on October 1, with one-on-one meetings. Presentations tend to repeat published material; what would change the evidence is a disclosed regulatory submission, a funded animal-protection study or a grant award with stated terms.
Sources: Decoy 22/09/2026 · SEC
Financial dates are measurement dates, not live balances. Company projections, reported facts and Merlintrader interpretations are distinguished. As of October 2, 2026, the latest current report on SEC EDGAR is the September 23, 2026 Form 8-K; Merlintrader has found no later registration statement or current report. Company releases are company announcements, not FDA confirmation. Market aggregates for float, short interest and ownership are third-party approximations dated October 2, 2026; the reference price is the October 1, 2026 close.
Preclinical pharmacokinetic data for DCOY-CoV: after a single intranasal dose, drug levels stayed above the company’s designed antiviral concentrations for up to seven days in nasal mucosal and lung tissue. The company says this supports once-weekly intranasal dosing. No human data were reported.
The company states that DCOY-CoV is expected to enter clinical trials in 2027. It has not disclosed a month, jurisdiction or trial protocol, so the timing is guidance rather than a scheduled event.
About $3.85 million gross, before fees and expenses, from the exercise of 1,184,434 Series B warrants at a reduced strike of $3.25. The transaction closed on September 23, 2026, according to the company’s Form 8-K.
New warrants on up to 2,368,868 shares at $3.25, exercisable immediately and expiring five years from issuance. The Series A and Series C milestone warrants were also repriced from $5.91 to $3.25.
$8,289,108 of cash, cash equivalents and restricted cash, of which about $2.7 million was restricted under the Gates Foundation grant. The filing disclosed substantial doubt about the company’s ability to continue as a going concern.
No. Decoy has no approved products, and its September 22, 2026 filovirus release described a potential Animal Rule pathway, not an agreement with the FDA.
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