Israeli company claims oral COVID-19 vaccine on its way
An oral vaccine could potentially allow for people to self vaccinate at home.
By Maayan Jaffe-Hoffman, Jerusalem Post, March 22, 2021
Pills (photo credit: INGIMAGE / ASAP)
An Israeli-American pharmaceutical company is preparing
to launch a Phase I clinical trial for what could become the world’s
first oral COVID-19 vaccine.
Oramed
Pharmaceuticals Inc., a clinical-stage pharmaceutical company based on
technology developed by Hadassah-University Medical Center, announced
over the weekend a joint venture with India-based Premas Biotech to
develop a novel oral vaccine. Together they formed the company Oravax
Medical Inc. The vaccine is based on Oramed’s “POD” oral delivery
technology and Premas’s vaccine technology.
Oramed’s
technology can be used to orally administer a number of protein-based
therapies, which would otherwise be delivered by injection. Oramed is in
the midst of a Phase III clinical trial through the US Food and Drug
Administration of an oral insulin capsule for Type 1 and Type 2
diabetes.
Premas has been working on developing a vaccine against the novel coronavirus since March.
 |
| Oramed CEO Nadav Kidron. |
The
companies connected earlier this year and quickly realized they could
revolutionize the marketplace, according to Oramed CEO Nadav Kidron.
“An
oral COVID-19 vaccine would eliminate several barriers to rapid,
wide-scale distribution, potentially enabling people to take the vaccine
themselves at home,” he told The Jerusalem Post. “While ease of
administration is critical today to accelerate inoculation rates, an
oral vaccine could become even more valuable in the case that a COVID-19
vaccine may be recommended annually like the standard flu shot.”
The company completed a pilot animal study and found that the
vaccine promoted the development of Immunoglobulin G (IgG) antibodies
and Immunoglobulin A (IgA). IgA is necessary for longer-term immunity.
The
new Oravax vaccine candidate targets three structural proteins of the
novel coronavirus, as opposed to the single spike protein targeted via
the Moderna and Pfizer vaccines, Kidron said. As such, “this vaccine
should be much more resistant to COVID-19 variants,” he said
Oravax video March 2021
In addition, it is a yeast-based vaccine, making the time and
cost of production much cheaper than its already approved competitors.
The advantages of an oral vaccine go beyond safety and efficacy, Kidron said. Oral medications tend to have fewer side effects.
In
addition, the vaccine can be shipped at refrigerator temperatures and
even stored at room temperature, “making it logistically easier to get
it anywhere around the world,” Kidron said.
Finally, an oral vaccine would not require professional administration.
Oravax
anticipates commencing a clinical study during the second quarter of
2021. It is applying for trials in multiple countries, including the
United States, Israel, Europe and Mexico, Kidron said. It hopes to also
target Africa, where such an oral vaccine could prove essential.
Kidron said he expects Phase I human trial data to be available within three months.
In
February 2020, shortly after the start of the COVID-19 pandemic,
another Israeli team began development on what they hoped would be an
oral coronavirus vaccine. Scientists from the Galilee Research
Institute’s biotechnology group said they were primed to develop their
vaccine within a few months.
They
had been developing a vaccine against avian coronavirus, which had been
proven effective in preclinical trials, and they believed it would
translate to a human vaccine. Despite a commitment by the Science and
Technology Ministry to fast-track approval of the vaccine and a $12
million investment by OurCrowd, the vaccine has yet to come to market.
The Post contacted
the institute’s researchers and representatives several times in recent
months for a status update, but none was provided.
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Full Disclosure : I recently bought a small number of shares in Oramed Pharmaceuticals , I am not recommending others do so as the stock price is very volatile
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