by Maayan Jaffe-Hoffman
An oral vaccine could potentially allow for people to self vaccinate at home.
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 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 I and type II
diabetics.
Premas has been working on developing a vaccine against the novel coronavirus since March.
The
companies connected earlier this year, according to Oramed CEO Nadav
Kidron, and quickly realized that they could revolutionize the
marketplace.
“An
oral COVID-19 vaccine would eliminate several barriers to rapid,
wide-scale distribution, potentially enabling people to take the vaccine
themselves at home,” Kidron said. “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,
Kidron explained, as opposed to the single spike protein targeted via
the Moderna and Pfizer vaccines. As such, “this vaccine should be much
more resistant to COVID-19 variants,” Kidron claimed.
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
continued. He said that oral medications tend to have fewer side
effects; around 10% of people who are inoculated by Pfizer or Moderna
report having some adverse 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. Kidron said that it is applying for trials in multiple countries,
including the United States, Israel, Europe and Mexico. 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 who had been developing a vaccine
against avian coronavirus, which had been proven effective in
preclinical trials and they believed would translate to a human vaccine,
said that they were primed to develop their vaccine within a few short
months.
The
Jerusalem Post followed up with the institute’s researchers and
spokespeople multiple times over the past several months for a status
update, but none was provided.
Maayan Jaffe-Hoffman
Source: https://www.jpost.com/health-science/israeli-company-says-oral-covid-19-vaccine-on-its-way-662712
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