Premas Biotech, Oramed announce oral COVID-19 vaccine candidate

Gurugram based Premas Biotech has announced the development of an oral COVID-19 vaccine that has shown efficacy after a single dose, in conjunction with Jerusalem based Oramed Pharmaceuticals Inc. Accelerating the vaccine’s path to market, Premas, Oramed and other shareholders, have formed Oravax Medical Inc. which has received exclusive licenses from Oramed and Premas to develop oral COVID-19 vaccines. 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. Premas’ protein-based VLP (Virus-Like Particle) vaccine candidate creates triple protection against the SARS CoV-2 virus Spike, Membrane, and Envelope targets. The vaccine candidate is also safe, efficacious and welltolerated at normal to high doses, and generated high titres of neutralizing antibodies. The VLP is manufactured using Premas’ proprietary D-Crypt platform, which is highly scalable and can be manufactured on large scales.