Oramed Pharmaceuticals announced that its subsidiary, Oravax Medical, has signed a cooperation and purchase agreement with Vietnam-based Tan Thanh Holdings Investment joint stock company to pre-purchase Oravax's oral Covid-19 vaccine, currently in development. The agreement grants Tan Thanh Holdings the right to sell Oravax's oral vaccine in development throughout the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) which        includes Vietnam, Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore and Thailand. The Agreement is for an initial pre-order of 10 million doses of oral Covid-19 vaccines from Oravax and is comprised of milestone payments. The parties have agreed to negotiate follow-on orders potentially worth hundreds of millions of dollars.

Tan Thanh Holdings, which operates one of the fastest growing pharmaceutical businesses in the ASEAN region, has received approval from Vietnam's Ministry of Health to conduct advanced stage clinical trials of Oravax's oral Covid-19 vaccine in development and will contribute to the funding and implementation of clinical development and regulatory approval. 

"This pre-purchase of our oral Covid-19 vaccine in development, represents a major milestone for Oravax Medical and another step forward in the implementation of our long-term strategy. With the dramatic increase in positive cases of the Omicron variant, the global need for an oral vaccine that protects against current and future variants is crucial. An oral COVID-19 vaccine would significantly improve vaccination logistics and reduce costs. We view Tan Thanh Holdings as an ideal partner to bring our vaccine to Vietnam and the ASEAN region," stated Oramed Chief Executive Officer and Oravax Chairman Nadav Kidron.

Oravax's oral VLP vaccine in development targets three SARS CoV-2 virus surface proteins, including proteins less susceptible to mutation, thus making the vaccine potentially more effective against current and future variants of the Covid-19 virus. Oravax's VLP vaccine technology is highly scalable for manufacturing and is easily transferable for logistical wide scale distribution as there is no need for subfreezing storage.