Singapore: Oramed Pharmaceuticals and its wholly owned Israeli subsidiary, Oramed, has been awarded a government grant from the office of the chief scientist (OCS) at the Ministry of Industry, Trade and Labor of Israel.

The awarded grant amounts to a net sum of around $265,000 (NIS 975,000). Once received, the funds will be designated and used by Oramed to support further R&D and clinical studies on its oral insulin capsule (ORMD-0801) and oral exenatide capsule (ORMD-0901) from January 2013 to December 2013.

Oramed is required to pay royalties in the rate of three percent-to-five percent on sales of products and services, derived from the technology developed using this and other OCS grants until the full dollar amount of the grants are repaid, plus interest. In the absence of such sales, no payment is required.

Mr Nadav Kidron, CEO, Oramed Pharmaceuticals, said that, "We are very pleased that Oramed was recognized as being a competitive developer of innovative oral drug delivery systems for the fourth year in a row. This grant will assist Oramed as we initiate phase II clinical trials in the US on our oral insulin candidate."