Samuel Case, FISM News

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Oramed Pharmaceuticals, an Israeli-American company, is about to launch Phase 1 clinical trials for the very first oral COVID-19 vaccine. Oramed’s CEO Nadav Kidron explained to the Jerusalem Post what an orally administered coronavirus vaccine could mean in the battle against the pandemic.

An oral COVID-19 vaccine would eliminate several barriers to rapid, wide-scale distribution, potentially enabling people to take the vaccine themselves at home . . . 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.

Kidron explained that the vaccine focuses on three structural proteins within the virus. This differs from the Moderna and Pfizer candidates which target COVID-19’s spike proteins. By targeting these structural proteins Kidron believes that Oramed’s candidate should provide more protection from coronavirus variants.

Apart from the obvious advantage of being self-administered without the unpleasant poke of a syringe, the oral vaccine possesses other advantages as well. Oral medicines typically produce fewer side effects than their injected counterparts and Oramed’s candidate can be stored at room temperatures, unlike other coronavirus vaccines, some of which need to be stored in sub-zero temperatures.

Apart from the coronavirus, the company is also in the middle of a Phase III trial for an oral form of insulin for both Type 1 and Type 2 diabetes.