Catalent, a pharmaceutical company based in Somerset, New Jersey has reached an agreement with MigVax, an Israel-based biopharmaceutical firm. The agreement enables MigVax to use Catalent’s Zydis Bio ODT (orally disintegrating tablet) technology for MigVax-101, their Covid-19 vaccine.
Catalent is the world leader in enabling consumer health partners, biotech, and pharma to enhance product development, product launch, and full life-cycle supply for patients globally. It helps fast-track over a thousand partner programs and develops and launches over 150 new products annually.
MigVax was established in 2020 following an investment from OurCrowd, a crowdfunding venture investment platform. MigVax decided to modify the established Covid-19 vaccine created by the parent company, Migal Galilee Research Institute Ltd.
MigVax-101 is a freeze-dried tablet vaccine that revealed positive data against Covid-19 in the preclinical tests. Compared to the existing injectable vaccines, this oral vaccine could possibly be significantly beneficial for low to middle-income countries.
A major benefit of this oral vaccine is that it provides the ease to address different variations in the future. Other benefits include comparatively stress-free transportation and storage as well as ease of dosing. Another advantage of having an oral form would be mucosal protection, which would help in preventing infection.
Ran Amir, CEO of MigVax stated “Once our vaccine can be transported using the Zydis Biotechnology, in unrefrigerated vehicles and stored in standard warehouses, it will be much easier and cost-effective for countries everywhere to roll out mass-vaccination programs. We believe this is a major step forward that will help society cope with the viruses in our midst as we continue returning to the new normal.”
Catalent and MigVax development agreement enabled the use of Zydis technology, which makes a freeze-dried tablet that, without water, quickly dissolves in the mouth. It enjoys claims of being one of the best ODTs globally.
It provides doctors with ease of mind because it helps in certain non-medical aspects as well, like greater patient compliance and convenience. The oral delivery experience is enhanced by Catalent’s Zydis ODT technology.
According to the agreement, Catalent is to conduct a feasibility study for converting MigVax’s vaccine into a Zydis Bio ODT dose form. Catalent is also to assess how stable the vaccine is and how it performs in the preclinical trials. The study and tests will take place in Swindon, United Kingdom, at the Zydis site of Catalent, which holds Zydis development and manufacturing facilities that is responsible for an annual production of over a billion ODTs.
President of oral and specialty delivery at Catalent, Jonathan Arnold, while pointing out the numerous probable benefits that Zydis Biotechnology has to offer, said that the technology had been used before to deliver antigens to the oral mucosae. He further said that it has very easy administration and transport, due to no requirement of cold chain storage. This also enables the company to distribute globally without the hassle of cold storage compared to the current injectable vaccines.
