Oramed to dual list on TASE

Tel Aviv Stock Exchange Photo: Eli Yizhar
Tel Aviv Stock Exchange Photo: Eli Yizhar

The company's Nasdaq share price has risen 32% this year, pushing its market cap up to $110 million.

Oramed Pharmaceuticals Inc. (Nasdaq:ORMP), which develops orally administered drugs as a substitute for injections, has announced that the Israel Securities Authority has authorized the dual listing of its shares on the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange (TASE), in addition to Nasdaq.

Trading in Oramed's share on the TASE will begin on July 12, and the share will be included in the SME60 Index. The company's share price on Nasdaq has risen 32% this year, pushing its market cap up to $110 million, among other things due to the company's statements that it would have its share listed on the TASE.

Oramed is the fourth Israeli biomed company to opt for dual listing, following Pluristem Therapeutics Ltd. (Nasdaq:PSTI; TASE: PLTR), Protalix Biotherapeutics Inc. (NYSE MKT:PLX; TASE: PLX), and PhotoMedex Inc. (Nasdaq: PHMD; TASE: PHMD), all in 2010. All of these companies were merged into companies already listed on Nasdaq, consolidated their status there after several years, and then opted for dual listing on the TASE. All of these companies' share prices rose after the shares were included in the local indices.

On the other hand, Cellect Biotechnology Ltd. (Nasdaq: APOP; TASE: APOP) announced that it intended to delist from the TASE, and several other companies are considering it, complaining that double regulation is a burden for them, and that the value at which they are traded on the TASE is pulling their share prices down.

The challenge: Persuading doctors and patients

Oramed's insulin pill is not meant to replace all insulin injections for diabetes patients. It is suitable mainly for cases in which precise insulin dosages are not needed, but a more comfortable way of taking insulin is being sought. Beyond proving the effectiveness of its product and registering it for marketing, the company's major challenge will be to persuade doctors and patients to take its insulin in addition, or in place of, the existing treatment methods at this stage - lifestyle changes and other drugs, such as metformin and GLP1.

Oramed's main competitor in insulin pills, Novo Nordisk, recently abandoned the segment. In its announcements, Novo Nordisk stated that it had left the business because the insurance companies are no longer willing to pay for small innovative measures (such as switching from injections to pills).

The biggest investment in Oramed was $50 million in 2015 by two Chinese investors: the China National Pharmaceutical Group Corporation (Sinopharm) , one of China's leading pharma companies, and Hefei Life Science & Technology Park Investments, which invests in young companies and owns an insulin production plant. The investors received 10% of Oramed, plus marketing rights in China.

Oramed CEO Nadav Kidron told "Globes" in late 2016 that Hefei had made a large-scale investment in a plant for manufacturing the product, and that construction of the plant had already begun. Investments from China are currently at risk, due to frequent changes in government regulations governing the removal of money from China. These two companies, however, have international business that makes it easier for them to take money out of China. Oramed's reports indicate that $30 million of the investment has already been received. The company had $24.5 million in cash as of the date of its most recent quarterly report.

Published by Globes [online], Israel Business News - www.globes-online.com - on July 6, 2017

© Copyright of Globes Publisher Itonut (1983) Ltd. 2017

Tel Aviv Stock Exchange Photo: Eli Yizhar
Tel Aviv Stock Exchange Photo: Eli Yizhar
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