BRIEF—Oramed inks oral COVID-19 vaccines deal with Tan Thanh Holdings in Southeast Asia

Israel-based Oramed Pharmaceuticals says that its subsidiary, Oravax Medical, has signed a cooperation and purchase agreement with Vietnam-based Tan Thanh Holdings Investment to pre-purchase Oravax’ oral COVID-19 vaccine, currently in development.

The agreement grants Tan Thanh Holdings the right to sell Oravax’ 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’ oral COVID-19 vaccine in development and will contribute to the funding and implementation of clinical development and regulatory approval.

The ASEAN region spends close to  4% of GDP on healthcare and its pharmaceutical industry is valued at  $25 billion and is expected to experience continued growth.