A pill-shaped coronavirus vaccine could enter the early stages of clinical trials this year, the first phase of human clinical trials in June.

A pill-shaped coronavirus vaccine could enter the early stages of clinical trials this year. Oravax, the company working on the drug, announced this week that it hopes to begin the first phase of human clinical trials in June, reports Science Alert.

There is no guarantee of success, but even if it works, it could happen one year or more before its use is authorized (Moderna and Pfizer began their first human trials in March and May 2020, respectively.)

Oral vaccines are an option that is being evaluated for calls ‘second generation vaccines’, that are designed to be more scalable, easier to manage, and easier to distribute.

Oravax is a joint venture of two companies: the Israeli-American company Oramed and the indian company Premas Biotech.

An oral vaccine could “potentially [permitir] that the people take the vaccine at home“Nadav Kidron, CEO of Oramed, said in the statement.

The vaccine could be shipped in a normal refrigerator and stored at room temperature, Kidron said, “making it logistically easier to get anywhere in the world,” the Jerusalem Post reported.

Other types of second-generation vaccines are being investigated, such as vaccines that are administered by means of a spray through the nose. Scientists are also studying whether the vaccines could be administered via patches.

Professor Sarah Gilbert, lead scientist on vaccine development at Oxford and AstraZeneca, revealed that they are evaluating the possibility of developing oral nasal spray pills and vaccines.

Another company, ImmunityBio, is conducting phase 1 clinical trials of an oral version of the vaccine. However, this would be used more as a booster dose of the intramuscular vaccine, rather than the vaccine itself.

Originally published at Explica