Biotech Values

[DewDiligence]

(NVO/ORMP)—More on the oral-insulin race:

http://in.reuters.com/article/2013/10/09/us-novonordisk-oramed-oralinsulin-idINBRE99804N20131009

An insulin pill, long desired by diabetes doctors and patients but abandoned as not physically viable, could be available by the end of this decade as a tiny Israeli company races a Danish pharmaceutical giant to be first with what could be a multibillion-dollar product.

In the pharma industry's equivalent of a David and Goliath story, the companies at the forefront are Novo Nordisk, the world's largest seller of insulin products with a market value of about $74 billion, and Oramed Pharmaceuticals Inc, with a market value of only $50 million and headquartered in Jerusalem…

… Since the digestive system can break down insulin in a matter of seconds, both Novo and Oramed's approaches for their insulin pills involve protective coatings and molecular tweaks or added ingredients to help enough insulin be absorbed to provide effective glycemic control. That involves giving large enough doses of insulin so that some 90 percent can be destroyed without sacrificing efficacy.

The low bioavailability could make the COGS of the oral products unduly high relative to injected insulin.