Oramed Pharmaceuticals Secures $3 Million Funding to Advance Oral Insulin Capsule ORMD-0801

On January 10, 2019, VCBeat (WeChat Official Account: vcbeat) learned that Oramed Pharmaceuticals (TASE: ORMP) announced yesterday that it had received $3 million in funding support from Hefei Tianhui Incubation Technologies Co., Ltd. (HTIT). This payment, part of the investment agreement between Oramed Pharmaceuticals and HTIT, marks a significant milestone.

It is reported that since its establishment in 2006, Oramed Pharmaceuticals has generated approximately $72.5 million in equity proceeds, and in 2015, it received a $50 million investment from HTIT to support the research and development of oral insulin.

Oramed Pharmaceuticals is a publicly listed pharmaceutical company that has developed a unique, patented technology platform dedicated to converting injectable therapies into oral formulations. The company is currently seeking to revolutionize diabetes treatment through its proprietary flagship product, the oral insulin capsule (ORMD-0801).

The financing will support the research, development, and promotion of Oramed Pharmaceuticals’ oral insulin capsule (ORMD-0801) in the Chinese market, sparing patients with type 2 diabetes from injections and facilitating their daily lives. Meanwhile, this product will also serve as an adjunct to insulin injections in the treatment of type 1 diabetes.

Oral Insulin Capsule (ORMD-0801) is Oramed's flagship product, currently in the clinical trial phase, with trials conducted under the supervision of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

Oral Insulin Capsules (ORMD-0801) hold the potential to pioneer a novel paradigm in diabetes treatment: orally administered insulin is absorbed through the intestine and passes through the liver before entering systemic circulation, effectively mimicking the natural physiological distribution and gradient of endogenous insulin. This mechanism has the potential to slow disease progression and delay or even eliminate late-stage complications. Furthermore, for patients with type 2 diabetes, oral insulin is expected to enhance medication adherence. For unstable, brittle type 1 diabetes, this therapy would reduce the frequency of daily injections and decrease the occurrence of blood glucose fluctuations.

“China currently has the world’s largest and most homogeneous population of individuals with diabetes,” said Nadav Kidron, CEO of Oramed. “We are very pleased to partner with HTIT to bring ORMD-0801 into this vast market.”

Hefei Tianhui Incubation Technology Co., Ltd. was established in September 2018. Headquartered in Anhui Province, it is a startup company primarily engaged in scientific research and technical services. The company’s business activities include the research, development, and production of biotechnology products, pharmaceutical products, and pharmaceutical intermediates. Additionally, it operates in the incubation of technology enterprises, technology transfer, consulting and services, research and development of high-tech technologies and products, property leasing, economic information consulting, financial agency services, and the import and export of various commodities and technologies.