Key facts
- Houghton shared the 2020 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for co-discovering the hepatitis C virus.
- The report says no approved hepatitis C vaccine exists and that Houghton's programme targets the first.
- Houghton cited Hong Kong research funding, Chinese virus strains and mainland drugmaker partnerships as reasons for the move.
Sir Michael Houghton, who shared the 2020 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for co-discovering the hepatitis C virus, has joined Baptist University in Hong Kong and launched a programme to develop what the report describes as the world's first hepatitis C vaccine. The primary report, dated November 10, 2026, does not give the date he joined the university.
Houghton said he moved to Hong Kong after more than four decades in North America, citing access to the city's research funding, to Chinese strains of the virus and to partnerships with mainland drugmakers. The report says he pointed to constraints on research funding in the United States and Europe, though its account of his remarks was truncated.
TVB News reported that Houghton arrived in Hong Kong in October 2026, moving from a Canadian university. It quoted him saying a five-year grant was cut short by policy from President Trump and that Europe was struggling to give scientists enough jobs and funding, while China was investing heavily.
No approved vaccine exists for hepatitis C, a blood-borne virus that the report says has infected millions of people and can reinfect those who have been cured.