By M. Marin
NASDAQ: ORMP
READ THE FULL ORMP RESEARCH REPORT
ORMP shares to be added to the Russell 2000® & Russell 3000®
As Oramed Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: ORMP) transitions its business model to leverage its strong balance sheet and allocate capital to investments in the biomedical and other areas, the company announced that its shares will be added to the U.S. small-cap Russell 2000® and broad-market Russell 3000® Index in the June Russell reconstitution.
The 2026 Russell 2000 and Russell 3000 reconstitution becomes final after the market close on June 26, 2026, and is effective at the market open on June 29, 2026. We believe inclusion in these Russell indexes could raise awareness of Oramed within the investment community, which we view as a positive. In part, this reflects that many institutional investment managers use Russell indexes as benchmarks. Roughly $12.2 trillion in assets are benchmarked against the Russell US indexes, according to FTSE Russell data.
…As company’s strategy encompasses strategic acquisitions of interests in a portfolio of entities
As noted, this inclusion comes as the company’s strategy encompasses strategically operating medical technology businesses through the acquisition of controlling interests in a portfolio of entities. ORMP’s strategy is to then take responsibility for appointing and overseeing management teams of companies in which it has invested, designing and executing clinical trial programs, and supporting their capital markets activities – including investor relations – and advancing their go-to-market commercialization strategy and long-term business development, among other activities. Several recent investments have yielded strong returns, and ORMP is optimistic about its ability to continue to create shareholder value by actively operating the businesses of companies in which it has a majority stake.
Aligned with this focus, ORMP, Corner Capital Management, LLC, and investor Ben Shapiro have launched the Corner Ally Ventures fund focused on investments in Israeli technology companies. The fund’s initial capital closing is expected in 3Q26.
Recent investments include Lifeward transaction…
Oramed also recently invested in Lifeward (NASDAQ: LFWD). ORMP CEO Nadav Kidron and ORMP Chief Scientific Officer Miriam Kidron, Ph.D., were appointed to LFWD’s board. Lifeward is a medical device company focused on devices to aid physical rehabilitation and recovery. Its initial products were robotic exoskeletons, including the ReWalk Personal and ReWalk Rehabilitation Exoskeleton for people with spinal cord injury (SCI). Oramed will receive 4% of net sales from the ReWalk franchise, Lifeward’s flagship product line. In addition to ReWalk, Lifeward has expanded its focus organically and through strategic transactions such as acquiring certain technology assets from Skelable Ltd., the developer of a robotic upper body orthotic device with AI capabilities.
Lifeward’s President and CEO, Mark Grant, has extensive experience in pharma, specifically focusing on diabetes, which has been ORMP’s historical focus of clinical development activities. He has more than 25 years of healthcare and medical technology experience, including serving as VP of the Americas for Medtronic’s diabetes business, exceeding $1.5 billion in annual revenue, as well as diabetes-focused roles at Bristol Myers Squibb, according to the company. Arguably, his experience and existing relationships in the space could potentially enable synergies with ORMP’s clinical development efforts and were likely an important factor in advancing this deal, in our view.
Oramed believes Lifeward’s product portfolio is positioned for strong growth and that this transaction can enhance shareholder value by retaining participation in the oral drug delivery program and innovations and enabling participation in a medical robotics company. According to Lifeward, the transaction and funding is intended to give Lifeward a cash runway to profitability and diversify its portfolio across MedTech and BioTech. To enhance its financial flexibility, ORMP has filed a registration statement for its LFWD shares.
With Lifeward, the company intends to continue advancing its clinical efforts around its POD and assets, as noted. ORMP targets initiating a 60-patient, US-based clinical trial evaluating lead asset ORMD-O801 following its analysis of earlier Phase 2 and Phase 3 data that identified high-responder subgroups demonstrating encouraging results. In prior clinical activities, a subpopulation of patients with specific parameters such as body mass index (BMI), baseline HbA1c, age, gender and body weight appeared to respond positively to the company’s oral insulin. These subsets exhibited an over 1% placebo adjusted, statistically significant reduction in HbA1c. As a result, a differentiated protocol that is aligned with the positive subpopulation data and informed by feedback from discussions with the FDA is expected to guide the design of the planned Phase 3 trial. Participants, including those with lower BMI and within older demographics, showed the possibility of achieving over 1% reduction in HbA1c, which ORMP notes is a clinically meaningful outcome that might strengthen the regulatory and commercial prospects of ORMD-0801.
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