Signing ceremony for cooperation agreement of Oral COVID-19 vaccine Oravax from Hà Nội. — Photo from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs

TEL AVIV — Việt Nam’s private groups Tân Thành Holdings and 10 Pharma JSC will be distributors of the COVID-19 oral vaccine Oravax for Southeast Asian nations, comprising Việt Nam, Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore and Thailand.

Oravax Medical of Israel's Oramed Pharmaceuticals and the Vietnamese firms signed a cooperation agreement for Oravax, currently in development, at a ceremony held online on Wednesday.

Nadav Kidron, chief executive of Oramed and Oravax chairman, said the deal, worth hundreds of millions of US dollars for Oravax, included pre-order of oral vaccine and further potential negotiation for follow-on orders.

He said he viewed Tân Thành Holdings as an ideal partner for his business to bring the oral vaccine to Việt Nam and other ASEAN member countries that have a combined population of over 660 million.  

“Tân Thành Holdings, which operates one of the fastest-growing pharmaceutical businesses in the ASEAN region, has received approval from Việt Nam’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,” a press release from the Israel company noted, adding that an oral COVID-19 vaccine would “significantly improve vaccination logistics and reduce costs”.

Addressing the signing ceremony, Vietnamese Ambassador to Israel Đỗ Minh Hùng stressed the significance of the cooperation, saying this was the first time Việt Nam and Israel had cooperated in high-tech healthcare, both in terms of trade and technology transfer.

The cooperation contents match guidelines of the Vietnamese Government and meet domestic demand for vaccine access, he said.

The oral vaccine is in Phase 1 of a clinical trial, does not require subfreezing storage, and is reportedly not requiring boosters like the current available vaccines. — VNS