Oramed Pharmaceuticals and Prema Biotech have formed Oravax Medical, a joint venture focused on developing oral COVID-19 vaccines.

The joint venture company, Oravax, will use India-based Premas Biotech’s vaccine technology combined with Israel-based Oramed’s POD oral delivery technology.

Oravax’s COVID-19 vaccine candidate is a virus like particle (VLP) that targets three structural proteins, which has the potential to provide protection against emerging variants of coronavirus. Furthermore, the oral administration of the vaccine may enable easier distribution and large-scale inoculation without needing an injection.

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According to the firm, the candidate boasts several manufacturing advantages over other COVID-19 vaccines.

“The oral dosage forms allow for easier manufacturing processes and room temperature stable formulation,” Prabuddha Kundu, co-founder and managing director of Premas Biotech told BioProcess Insider. “The manufacturing processes are more robust and reproducible.”

The firm is expected to commence a clinical study during the second quarter of 2021. The oral COVID-19 vaccine has already undergone a pilot animal study, which saw both systemic immunity through Immunoglobulin G (IgG) and Immunoglobulin A (IgA). IgG is the most common antibody found in bodily fluid and blood that fights viral infections.

Easy scale-up

Alongside the perk of no needles, Oravax lists ease of scale-up, no need for low-temperature storage and straight-forward technology transfers as some of its advantages.

“The antigenic components are produced in the D-Crypt platform from Premas Biotech […] the processes for antigens utilize the engineered yeast cells, S cerevisiae, which is easily manufactured and delivers consistent results. And the production process for the oral platform is well known and characterized,” Kundu said.

He added the candidate is easy to manufacture when it moves through the clinic as yeast is “highly scalable.”

No financial details have been disclosed, but Kundu confirmed the clinical material will be manufactured by Premas Biotech and that the firm “actively seeking potential CMOs and manufacturing collaborators.”