The European Patent Office has issued to Oramed Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ, TASE:ORMP) a notice of intent to grant a patent for broader claims for its invention titled, “Methods and Compositions for Oral Administration of Proteins.”
The claims now extend to cover oral compositions and uses of any protein up to a molecular weight of 100,000 Daltons.
The patent covers Oramed’s drugs, including its oral insulin capsule, ORMD-0801, which is currently in clinical development for Type 1 and Type 2 diabetes, as well as ORMD-0901, an oral GLP-1 analog capsule.
Oramed’s invention is designed to prevent the breakdown of protein-based drugs in the gastrointestinal track and promotes its crossing the small intestine. This potentially enables the oral administration via capsules of proteins, including insulin, which today are primarily only available and effective through injection.
