Singapore, April 4 -- The State Key Laboratory for Emerging Infectious Diseases at the University of Hong Kong (HKU) and the InnoHK Centre for Virology, Vaccinology and Therapeutics (CVVT) have pioneered an influenza virus vector-based nasal spray vaccine platform and developed a nasal spray H5N1 avian influenza vaccine.

During the early COVID-19 pandemic, this platform enabled the rapid development of a nasal spray vaccine in collaboration with mainland China's Wantai BioPharm. After completing Phase 1-3 clinical trials, it was approved in 2022 as the world's first nasal spray COVID-19 vaccine.

To address the emerging H5N1 threat, the HKU and CVVT team utilised the influenza virus vector-based nasal spray vaccine platform to develop a ...