Vaccine in pill form: Israel begins trials next month to test its promising oral formula against COVID-19

Israeli pharmaceutical company announced on Friday it will start next month clinical trials with a new coronavirus vaccine in pill form once it receives the green light from the Israeli government, after the positive results obtained in the tests on pigs.

Oramed Pharmaceuticals indicated that the vaccine is in development by Indian company Premas Biotech and pointed out that the pill it would not have to be stored at a low temperature or administered by professionals, as is the case with injectable doses, which could stimulate vaccination campaigns.

Company CEO Nadav Kidron claimed that “The oral vaccine, which does not rely on a cold supply chain like other coronavirus vaccines, could make the difference between a country capable of weathering the pandemic and one that is not.Particularly in areas hard hit by the virus which have not yet vaccinated their populations, an oral vaccine against COVID-19 could be a game-changer, “he said in a statement delivered to the newspaper The time of Israel.

Company received approval from Sourasky Medical Center in Tel Aviv to start clinical trials on 24 unvaccinated volunteers and is awaiting final approval from the Ministry of Health, with no date set at this time.

Kidron’s statements come a day after Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett called on the population to be vaccinated and stressed that those who refuse to do so “endanger the other eight million citizens of the country.” “If anyone knows another person who refuses vaccines, convince them, explain to them that they are endangering the health of others. You don’t have to give them up, ”he said, before defending the government’s decision that unvaccinated people pay for coronavirus tests.

“There is no reason for taxpayers and those who fulfill their civic duty to fund tests (on the coronavirus) of those who refuse to be vaccinated,” Bennett said, amid a new spike in cases primarily attributed to the Delta variant. The Israeli Ministry of Health confirmed 1,263 cases on Friday, bringing the total to 857,554, with 6,457 deaths and 10,194 active cases, including 81 critically ill patients. In addition, the positivity rate increased to 1.83%.

On the other hand, he pointed out that 5,755,067 people have so far received at least one dose of the vaccine against the coronavirus, of which 5,283,200 were inoculated with the second and already have the complete model.

This promising vaccine is based on Oramed’s POD oral delivery technology and Premas vaccine technology. the company recently announced.

Oramed technology can be used to orally deliver a number of protein therapies that would otherwise be given by injection. Without going any further, Oramed is in the middle of a Phase 3 clinical trial via the US FDA of an insulin pill for type 1 and type 2 diabetes.

“An oral COVID-19 vaccine would remove several barriers and could lead to rapid and large-scale distribution, which could allow people to take the vaccine at home. While ease of administration is key to speeding up inoculation rates, an oral vaccine could be even more valuable if annual application is recommended, as is the case with standard influenza vaccine, ”said Nadav Kidron, CEO of Oramed in a press release.

The company completed a pilot study in animals and found that the vaccine promoted the development of immunoglobulin G (IgG) and immunoglobulin A (IgA) antibodies. IgA is necessary for longer term immunity.

Oravax’s vaccine candidate targets three novel structural proteins of the coronavirus, as opposed to the single-tip protein targeted by the Moderna and Pfizer vaccines.Kidron said. As such, “this vaccine is expected to be much more resistant to COVID-19 variants“, stated, and also underlined the fact that, being based on yeast, its production cost would be cheaper compared to its competitors.

The experts’ point of view

Consulted by Infobae on the opportunities opened up by the announcement of this development, infectologist Hugo Pizzi was optimistic. “In general, oral vaccines have worked well. The aim is to introduce the production of antibodies, but you have to be careful how you introduce it as a whole because, otherwise, the gastric juices destroy it; injectables do not run this risk and are generally more effective, but there is a tendency to produce these types of vaccines ”.

Pizzi recalled that this is not the first time that Israel has spoken of an oral formula with COVID-19. Last year, the Migal Galilee Research Institute, located near the border with Lebanon, announced that it was working on the development of an oral inoculant against the coronavirus.

For his part, the infectious disease doctor Pablo Bonvehí, Scientific Director of the Fundación VacunarHe added: “If these vaccines pass all the stages of the study, we probably won’t be able to find out for another year.” For the specialist, the advantage of oral vaccines is that they are easier to administer and store. However, he acknowledges that we are still in the very early stages. “We need to have more scientific data,” he said. “There is a typhoid vaccine that is oral. They are few. They are not easy to develop because stomach acids tend to destroy what is injected. Corn, surely in the future we will have more such developments if he succeeds“, He said.

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