IVCC is pleased to announce that it has secured partnership role on a recently granted contract to Abt Associates to reduce the burden of malaria across Africa.

IVCC is part of a five-year, $472 million contract awarded to Abt Associates, under the Prevention of Mosquito-Borne Diseases through Vector Control IDIQ, by The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) through the U.S. President’s Malaria Initiative (PMI).  Through this contract, Abt Associates will support PMI and USAID to plan and implement an integrated vector control approach with the overall goal of reducing the burden of malaria in Africa.

As a partner, IVCC will be responsible for advising on the Indoor Residual Spraying (IRS) and other vector control product development pipeline and the timing and availability of products for trials and pilot launches.

IVCC will also be responsible for building and negotiating Public Private Partnerships with manufacturers of new vector control technologies and will, in partnership with Abt Associates and industrial partners, lead the planning and project management of the late stages of product development launch.  Through its relationship with Innovation to Impact (I2I), IVCC will also assist in managing products through the WHO/pre-qualification and policy recommendation review processes.

Nick Hamon, CEO of IVCC said: “Since 2000, Africa has seen major reductions in morbidity and mortality from malaria, primarily due to investments in vector control interventions.  IVCC will be able to leverage its expertise in integrating best practices and innovative solutions in the field of product development, product introduction, design of sustainable approaches to vector control and resistance management.”

“Through our partnership with Abt, this project gives IVCC increased connectivity to the market place and an additional route for testing new interventions which will further support our Access programmes.”

London: 18 April 2018 -Today, at the London Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting, the world’s leading Crop Protection companies announce their commitment to support the research, development and supply of innovative products to save lives and help eradicate malaria by 2040.

BASF, Bayer, Mitsui Chemicals, Sumitomo Chemical Company and Syngenta have been the major driving force behind the development of innovative vector control solutions, such as bednets and indoor spraying.  Since 2000, nearly 4 in every 5 malaria cases successfully averted through intervention have been due to long-lasting insecticide treated bednets (LLINs) and indoor residual spraying (IRS), saving millions of lives.

In coming together under the ‘ZERO by 40’ banner, these companies are, with the support of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and Liverpool based IVCC (the Innovative Vector Control Consortium), reaffirming their commitment to use their expert knowledge and chemical resources to supply and develop innovative vector control solutions to help reduce the malaria burden, which today is increasingly being threatened by insecticide resistance.

In 2005 these companies opened up their chemical libraries to IVCC to support the search for new chemistry to help address the danger of insecticide resistance. As a result, a strong pipeline of innovative solutions is beginning to emerge.  Recent successes include:

•   In 2016 Actellic®300CS, a next generation IRS developed by Syngenta, was introduced into the NgenIRS programme, a 4-year $65.1 million UNITAID-funded market shaping initiative, now stretching across 14
African countries.

•   This was joined in 2017 by Sumitomo Chemical’s SumiShield^® 50WG, a brand-new mode of action chemistry for indoor residual spraying, to enable improved resistance management through rotation.

•   Bayer’s next generation IRS product combining two modes of action, Fludora^® Fusion, is currently undergoing final stage trials required for WHO prequalification and is expected to join the fight in preventing disease transmission for millions of people across sub-Saharan Africa.

•   In 2017, BASF received a WHO interim recommendation for Interceptor^® G2, a new generation mosquito net developed using a repurposed insecticide (chlorfenapyr) from agriculture to help combat resistant mosquitoes.

•   Mitsui Chemicals, which has a long history in the field of vector control, is developing unique mode of action insecticides across a wide range of product applications such as sprays and bednets.

Nick Hamon, CEO of IVCC said “Our industry collaboration, supported by our funders including the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and the UK’s Department of International Development (DFID), is starting to bear fruit and is saving lives today. But we still have a long way to go to achieve our ambition of ending the disease burden of malaria by 2040. This new initiative will not only secure the current supply of solutions, but will pave the way for desperately needed new forms of chemistry and new vector control tools to reduce the disease burden of malaria which still affects millions of people.”

Saori Dubourg, Member of the Board of Executive Directors, BASF SE, said “Next Wednesday is World Malaria Day, but for half of our world, every day is a fight against this devastating disease. Malaria causes sickness and death, reduces productivity, fuels poverty and creates hunger, especially in impoverished, rural farming communities. ZERO by 40 will connect the smartest minds in public health and science, and I am truly optimistic that it will be a force for change. We can be the generation to end malaria.”

Dr. Jacqueline M. Applegate, Member of the Crop Science Executive Committee & President of Environmental Science of Bayer AG, said “The magnitude and global reach of the disease requires the engagement of all major stakeholders to work together if we are to achieve our bold and ambitious goal of ending the malaria burden within a generation. The declaration signed today with our industry partners confirms the willingness to mobilize our diverse know-how and resources. At Bayer, we are committed to using science and innovation to improve people’s lives and are very proud to be a signee of this declaration.”

Kazunori Tani, Executive adviser of Mitsui Chemicals Agro, Inc. said “Through our continued dedication to innovation in organic chemistry technology, Mitsui Chemicals has discovered novel insecticides that effectively control mosquitos resistant to existing chemicals. With our new technologies, we are proud to contribute to the eradication of Malaria, one of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) set by the United Nations.”

Ray Nishimoto, Representative Director & Senior Managing Executive Officer and President of
Health & Crop Sciences Sector, Sumitomo Chemical added “Sumitomo Chemical was founded with the precept that to succeed in the long run, business activities must benefit society. This core value is the basis of our long-standing commitment to continuously develop innovative vector control technologies that will help end malaria for good. On the occasion of the Malaria Summit London 2018, Sumitomo Chemical is proud to join in the Vector Control Malaria Declaration, alongside other leading crop protection companies, and to confirm that we will continue to innovate and invest to bring new vector control solutions to market until malaria is ultimately eradicated.”

Erik Fyrwald, Syngenta CEO said “The WHO reported that in 2016 445,000 people died from Malaria and around 216 million people were infected so we all have a responsibility to help fight this terrible disease.
We are here today to reinforce our commitment in the fight against Malaria and we will work closely to IVCC, and Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and the companies of our industry to eradicate it.”

Commenting on the initiative, Trevor Mundel, President of Global Health at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, said “Innovative vector control is essential to the success of malaria control and elimination efforts. It’s proven key to saving millions of lives over the past 15 years. That’s why we’re pleased that the companies that have played such an essential role in delivering innovation are extending their commitments to help end malaria for good. The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation is pleased to support IVCC and its private-sector partners in their efforts to accelerate the discovery and development of new insecticides for public health.”

IVCC joined Syngenta Crop Protection AG today in a joint media release announcing that Syngenta are progressing a novel insecticide ‘active ingredient,’ into early development.

The breakthrough is a result of four years of intensive research by Syngenta supported by IVCC and our funding partners, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the UK Agency for International Development (UKAID), the US Agency for International Development (USAID) and the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC)

IVCC CEO Nick Hamon emphasised in the media release that this is a significant breakthrough in the battle against malaria that shouldn’t be underestimated. ‘Together with other solutions in the IVCC pipeline, this new insecticide has the potential to substantially reduce the risk of future insecticide resistance and lay a foundation for the eventual eradication of malaria,’ he said.

The announcement by Syngenta heralds the first of several new active ingredients that IVCC partners will enter into full development this year.

It is a timely announcement for World Malaria Day, which takes place on 25th April this year, with its emphasis on sustaining commitment to building on the successes achieved since the turn of the millenium in reducing malaria. In advance of World Malaria Day United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon said that malaria control was one of his priorities; ‘Malaria control has proven to be one of the smartest investments in health we can make,’ he said. ‘When we target our funds in proven malaria control interventions, we create healthier communities and more robust economies’. Read the Secretary-General’s full comments here

Dr Fatoumata Nafo-Traoré, Executive Director of the Roll Back Malaria Partnership also emphasised the importance of tackling insecticide resistance.’We have come half the distance with half the funds,’ she said.’To beat growing threats like insecticide and drug resistance, we must re-commit ourselves and raise our ambitions’.

Syngenta is one of the world’s leading companies with more than 28,000 employees in over 90 countries dedicated to its purpose: Bringing plant potential to life. For more information about Syngenta please go to www.syngenta.com.

Reports in Time magazine today (Jan 13, 2015) about Insecticide Resistance in Mali shouldn’t really come under the heading of news. We’ve known about insecticide resistance in mosquitoes for a long time. In fact, that’s one of the reasons IVCC was set up in 2005—to develop new and effective vector control tools to challenge insecticide resistance.

But what is more serious is the comment in the article that resistance has ‘reached a level at some localities in Africa where it is resulting in the failure of the nets to provide meaningful control’. This is not only inaccurate, it is positively harmful.  Even if insecticides on bednets shows limited efficacy in some cases, the physical barrier of the bednet still provides a meaningful level of protection—over 50% according to WHO.  The article also fails to point out that the impact of growing insecticide resistance is not yet fully understood, nor is it distributed evenly across sub-Saharan Africa.

Long-lasting Insecticidal Treated bednets (LLINs), and Indoor Residual Spraying (IRS) have been remarkably successful over the past 15 years in reducing deaths and sickness from malaria across sub-Saharan Africa. In the World Malaria report 2015, the WHO reports that malaria mortality rates have decreased by 54% in the region during this period and that 44% of the population at risk is now sleeping under a LLIN. They estimate that 670 million fewer case and 4.3 million fewer malaria deaths occurred between 2001 and 2013 than would have occurred if incidence and mortality rates had remained unchanged.

Undoubtedly, some of this is due to better drug therapies and more effective diagnostics and health systems and that is also good news. But a large portion of it is also down to effective protection of the people at risk, especially the most vulnerable groups of pregnant women and young children. There is substantial evidence that LLINs and IRS have been remarkably efficient. The massive distribution of bednets has been a major lifesaver.

Ironically, the success of bednets and IRS one of the reasons why resistance has been developing. It’s a natural response from an insect population under stress. (See our video ‘The Tipping Point’) And it’s why we’re developing new anti-malarial insecticides that are safe for people and the environment that could bring to an end this never ceasing circle of solution-resistance-solution. (See our video ‘Why 3 new Ais’)

Working with the world’s leading agro-chemical companies, and top scientific experts in entomology and chemistry, we have already isolated 9 new chemical classes of anti-malarial insecticide with completely new (and different from each other)  modes of action. This year we will select 3 of these to go into full development. If funding is adequate and the extensive regulatory processes are passed, these new insecticides will be in operation in the field by 2022.

In the meantime we have developed new formulations of existing insecticides for IRS, and have some novel approaches to bednets that are currently undergoing evaluation.

Time reports scientists are urging ‘the development of new and effective malaria vector control strategies’. Right, we’re on the case and the finishing line is in sight.

IVCC will shortly be moving to new offices within the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine (LSTM). The Wolfson Building is a £7 million project which will also house the Centre for Maternal and Newborn Health, and the Centre for Neglected Tropical Disease.

IVCC staff and partners were present when the building weas opened by LSTM’s Patron, HRH The Princess Royal.

During the opening ceremony Her Royal Highness was treated to a short presentation about the work of the IVCC and the other groups housed in the Wolfson Building.  She then was introduced to IVCC staff and some of its partners and funders.

IVCC CEO, Nick Hamon said this was a significant development in the growth of IVCC. ‘This move to purpose built new offices is coming at a significant time when IVCC is at the point of entering the development phase of three new anti-malarial insecticides and beginning to seriously consider how to tackle outdoor biting insects. The move will improve our facilities and facilitate future growth,’ he said.

In the photograph Her Royal Highness is being presented to Egon Weinmuller of BASF and Sue Kinn of the Department of International Development (DfID).