When Dr. Eva Nagy began studying fowl adenoviruses at the University of Guelph, she was pursuing basic scientific questions of how these viruses replicate and control gene expression at the molecular level. She was not intending to create a commercial product, but she recognized their potential utility as vaccine vectors.
Years later, that curiosity-driven work helped lay the foundation for Vaxigen® Ad-H7, an avian influenza vaccine registered in 2022 and launched in Mexico by Laboratorio Avi-Mex S.A de C.V. (Avimex®) in 2025. The product represents the kind of long-arc innovation story that is common to university-led research and illustrates the patience, collaboration and sustained support often required to reach the market.
Nagy, a professor emerita in the Department of Pathobiology at the Ontario Veterinary College, focused much of her research on fowl adenovirus-9, or FAdV-9, a naturally occurring avian adenovirus that does not cause disease. Her lab worked to characterize the virus and identify regions of its genome that were not essential for replication. Those non-essential regions could then be removed and replaced with genes from other poultry pathogens, creating space for the virus to act as a vaccine vector - essentially a delivery system that transports the pathogens genes into the body to teach immune system to recognize and fight off the dangerous pathogen.
That platform opened the door to a new approach. By inserting a gene encoding an H7 avian influenza protein, researchers could use the harmless vector to prompt a chicken’s immune system to recognize and respond to the influenza virus.
Nagy’s own reflections underscore the importance of basic research in making downstream innovation possible. She notes that curiosity-driven and translational research are synergistic: “Curiosity builds the knowledge base, and translation turns that knowledge into useful products and services. At the start we were only exploring the science. We didn’t know that our research on a non-pathogenic avian adenovirus would contribute to a commercial vaccine platform.”
Turning that scientific platform into a product required far more than a promising discovery. Avimex® took on the long and complex work of product development, including additional testing, overcoming manufacturing process hurdles and regulatory approvals. The original license agreement from the University of Guelph to Avimex® occurred more than a decade ago, underscoring just how much patience successful commercialization can demand.
Bernardo Lozano, Avimex® General Director, remarks that open innovation is at the core of Avimex®’s business:
“Innovation is one of our main strategies for success. This is why we are always committed to working with researchers in emerging technologies to make them available for the benefit of mankind. The collaboration of our R&D team with the University of Guelph and Dr. Nagy is one example of how long-term vision pays-off. Vaxigen® Ad-H7 will have a positive impact in animal health care and will finally benefit our clients, after more than 10 years of efforts, investment and development, which made this binational project a success.
Nagy describes the relationship with Avimex® as a true collaboration. Her lab shared vectors, reagents and technical expertise; Avimex® scientists learned the methods and continued developing vaccine prototypes within the company. Success would not be possible without generations of students, postdoctoral fellows and technicians putting in the painstaking work behind the science.
Nagy also credits the University of Guelph’s Research Innovation Office with recognizing the commercial potential of the research, supporting patenting efforts, coordinating with inventors and facilitating the long-term relationship with Avimex.
Steve De Brabandere, who is Director of Technology Transfer at the Research Innovation Office, acknowledges that commercialization can be a long road. “Investments of time and money into patent applications and licensing activities certainly result in lots of failures along the way, but examples like this demonstrate the importance of the University's commitment to research impacts of all types. Full credit to Dr. Nagy, her research team and to Avimex for their unwavering commitment to this achievement.”
The story of Vaxigen® Ad-H7 is a reminder that impactful innovation is rarely sudden. It often begins with a researcher asking a basic question, continues through years of technical setbacks and regulatory work, and only much later emerges as a product with real-world value. In this case, that value is measured in healthier flocks, stronger disease control tools and a great example of how university research can travel far beyond campus.
Research supporting this work included funding from the Canadian Poultry Research Council, Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council, and the Ontario Agri-Food Innovation Alliance, a collaboration between the Government of Ontario and the University of Guelph.
Portions of this research took place at the Ontario Poultry Research Centre, which is owned by Agricultural Research and Innovation Ontario, an agency of the Government of Ontario, and managed by U of G through the Alliance.
Photo: Shutterstock/franz12