Both the companies will work on oral covid vaccines and formed Oravax Medical
Gurugram-based biotechnology firm Premas Biotech, a developer of novel biotherapeutic and vaccine candidates has tied up with Israel-based Oramed Pharmaceuticals to develop an oral COVID-19 vaccine that has shown efficacy after a single dose.
Premas, Oramed and other shareholders have formed Oravax Medical which has received exclusive licenses from Oramed and Premas to develop oral COVID-19 vaccines.
The vaccine candidate could be ready for human trials in the next three months. After a single dose of the Oravax COVID-19 capsule, efficacy was evident through antibody production in a pilot animal study. Oravax’s vaccine promoted both systemic immunity through Immunoglobulin G (IgG), the most common antibody in blood and bodily fluids that protects against viral infections and Immunoglobulin A (IgA) which protects the respiratory and gastrointestinal tracts against infection.
Dr Prabuddha Kundu, Co-Founder and Managing Director, Premas Biotech commented, “An oral COVID-19 vaccine that harnesses and combines the true potential of the two platforms, Premas’ D-Crypt technology platform with Oramed’s world-leading oral protein delivery platform POD is an excellent example of true collaboration and can rapidly advance into late-stage clinical trials. Oramed’s experience and success in conducting Phase 2 and 3 oral protein trials positions our programme very favourably in the race to find an effective oral COVID-19 vaccine that can be administered by anyone anywhere. We are looking forward to sharing clinical data soon.”
Nadav Kidron, CEO, Oramed said, “We are excited about our oral vaccine candidate’s potential to help end the pandemic. An oral COVID-19 vaccine would eliminate several barriers to rapid, widescale distribution, enabling people to take the vaccine themselves at home. While ease of administration is critical today to accelerate inoculation rates, an oral vaccine could become even more valuable in the likely case that a COVID-19 vaccine may be required annually or biannually like the standard flu shot.”
