In a Hong Kong news conference, the British virologist Michael Houghton, whose team first identified the hepatitis C virus decades ago, has taken up the task of building a vaccine against it at Hong Kong Baptist University. The disease still claims roughly a quarter of a million lives each year and has been held at bay mostly by costly tests and medicines, leaving the world without the simplest shield of all. Houghton's bet is that a virus so shape-shifting must be met with vaccines fitted to the local strains, beginning with those circulating in China, before any broader hope of ending it as
Nobel Laureate Michael Houghton Joins HKBU to Develop Hepatitis C Vaccine Targeting Chinese Strains
Hepatitis C caused about 239,000 deaths worldwide in 2024, with 47 million people living with chronic infection.
There is still no effective vaccine against hepatitis C.
Mark
Why does it matter that the vaccine starts with Chinese strains?
Mimi
Houghton says hepatitis C is among the most variable viruses known, and Chinese strains differ from North American and European ones. So the first vaccine is tailored to what circulates there.
Mark
And the cost argument?
Mimi
Antivirals work but are expensive. He says no country can afford to test everyone and treat all the infected, which is why he wants a vaccine.
Luke
Let's be careful about the timeline, though. Those dates are the team's goals, not results.
Mimi
Right. Formulation by late 2027, phase one in 2028, phase two in 2029, human efficacy by 2030. All targets.
Luke
And the promise to keep it affordable?
Mimi
That is a plan, contingent on success and on partnerships with Chinese manufacturers. No price or company has been named beyond Shanghai or Shenzhen as possibilities.
Mark
Why Hong Kong?
Mimi
A failed joint bid for a third medical school brought him and HKBU together, and he found shared goals in translational research. He also says the US and Europe face different constraints, without detailing them.
Luke
Which remains unexplained. We only have his characterization.
Mimi
True, and the vaccine itself is still unproven.
Il Polso
- A virus that has resisted vaccination for decades now faces a new push to find one, with 47 million people living with chronic infection.
- Diagnostics and antivirals are proving too expensive to reach everyone, exposing a gap that only prevention can close.
- Houghton's team is racing to identify a Chinese-strain vaccine formula by late 2027 and to find a manufacturing partner in Shanghai or Shenzhen.
- If the first human trial in 2028 and efficacy study in 2029 succeed, the goal is a nationwide, affordable rollout by 2030.
In a Hong Kong news conference, the British virologist Michael Houghton, whose team first identified the hepatitis C virus decades ago, has taken up the task of building a vaccine against it at Hong Kong Baptist University. The disease still claims roughly a quarter of a million lives each year and has been held at bay mostly by costly tests and medicines, leaving the world without the simplest shield of all. Houghton's bet is that a virus so shape-shifting must be met with vaccines fitted to the local strains, beginning with those circulating in China, before any broader hope of ending it as a public health threat can be realized.
At a news conference in Hong Kong, Michael Houghton, the British virologist who helped discover hepatitis C in 1989 and later received the 2020 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, announced that he has joined Hong Kong Baptist University to build a vaccine against the disease. The effort is framed as part of a wider push to eliminate hepatitis C as a public health threat.
The urgency is plain in the numbers. The World Health Organization counts about 239,000 deaths worldwide in 2024, some 47 million people living with chronic infection, and roughly 900,000 new infections each year, with still no effective vaccine. Houghton argues that testing and antivirals, though valuable, cannot carry the load alone, since the drugs are expensive and no country can afford to screen and treat everyone who might be infected.
The virus's extraordinary variability shapes the plan. Chinese strains differ from those in North America and Europe, so the team will begin with Chinese strains and, if successful, consider combining them with Western formulations.
The timeline is concrete. The team hopes to identify an optimal mixture by the second half of 2027 and begin manufacturing with a Shanghai or Shenzhen company. A first-phase trial to test safety and dosage is expected in 2028, an efficacy stage in 2029, and proof of human effectiveness by 2030. Success would bring partnerships with Chinese pharmaceutical firms to distribute the vaccine nationwide at an affordable price.
Houghton's move to HKBU grew from a failed joint bid to establish Hong Kong's third medical school. He found a shared commitment to turning biomedical research into real applications, and he sees mainland China and Hong Kong as well suited to the work. HKBU's interim chief innovation officer, Terence Lau Lok-ting, welcomed his mix of industry and academic experience and hopes he will drive the university's translational work. The next milestone to watch is the late-2027 Chinese-strain formulation, followed by the first human trial in 2028.
At a news conference in Hong Kong on Tuesday, British virologist Michael Houghton announced that he has joined Hong Kong Baptist University to build a vaccine against hepatitis C, a viral infection of the liver. The work is framed as part of a wider effort to eliminate the disease as a public health threat.
Houghton is no newcomer to the subject. In 1989 he was part of the team that discovered the hepatitis C virus, a achievement that earned him the 2020 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine. One of his colleagues in that discovery, Singapore-born Choo Qui Lim, is now a chair professor in HKBU's Department of Biology. Houghton himself is a chair professor in the same department and a co-founder of the university's Frontier Translational Medical Research Institute. Before Hong Kong, he did hepatitis C vaccine research at the University of Alberta in Canada.
The scale of the problem is what drives the project. The World Health Organization says hepatitis C caused about 239,000 deaths worldwide in 2024. It estimates that 47 million people live with chronic infection, and that about 900,000 new infections occur each year. There is still no effective vaccine.
Houghton argued that diagnostics and antivirals, though good, are not enough. The antivirals are expensive, he said, and it is impossible for any country to pay for testing everyone who might be infected and then treating them all. He noted that the WHO also strongly emphasizes the need for a vaccine.
The virus itself complicates the task. Houghton described hepatitis C as one of the most variable viruses known to humans, and said Chinese strains differ from those in North America and Europe. That is why, in his view, vaccines must be tailored to the strains common in each region. The team will start with the Chinese strains. If that succeeds, he said, they can consider combining it with North American and European vaccines to eliminate the threat more broadly.
The timeline is specific. The team hopes to identify an optimum vaccine mixture to protect the Chinese population by the second half of 2027, and to begin manufacturing with a company in either Shanghai or Shenzhen. A first-phase clinical trial, meant to confirm safety and determine the best dose, is expected to start in 2028. A second stage, to verify efficacy, is expected in 2029. The team aims to demonstrate effectiveness in humans by 2030. If that works, it plans to partner with Chinese pharmaceutical companies to distribute the vaccine nationwide and keep it affordable for most people.
Houghton's path to HKBU began with a joint bid to establish Hong Kong's third medical school. The bid failed, but he found the two sides shared a vision of biomedical research and turning it into applications, and decided to come. He also said research in the United States and Europe faces different constraints, which makes the Chinese mainland and Hong Kong good places for the project.
Terence Lau Lok-ting, HKBU's interim chief innovation officer, said the university puts strong emphasis on translating research into products. He said Houghton's blend of pharmaceutical industry and academic experience gives him unusual translational expertise, and hoped he would drive the university's work in this area and contribute to the economy and humankind.
The next marker to watch is the late-2027 target for a Chinese-strain formulation, followed by the first human trial in 2028.
Citazioni salienti
Even though we have good diagnostics and good antivirals, the antivirals are very expensive.— Michael Houghton
Initially, we're focusing on a vaccine against the Chinese hepatitis C strains.— Michael Houghton
Vuoi la storia completa?
Leggi l'originale su Asia News Network ↗