Premas Biotech (Gurugram, India) and Oramed Pharmaceuticals (Jerusalem) have announced that they are developing an oral COVID-19 vaccine that has shown efficacy after a single dose in animals.
To accelerate the development of the vaccine, the two companies have created a joint venture known as Oravax Medical.
The availability of effective single-dose oral COVID-19 vaccines could go far in simplifying logistics.
Supply chain challenges have hampered mass vaccination campaigns in many parts of the world. Many coronavirus vaccines require two doses and several require uncommonly cold storage temperatures.
“An oral COVID-19 vaccine would eliminate several barriers to rapid, wide-scale distribution, enabling people to take the vaccine themselves at home,” said Nadav Kidron, CEO of Oramed in a statement. “While ease of administration is critical today to accelerate inoculation rates, an oral vaccine could become even more valuable in the likely case tha…