IVCC receives £12 million from the UK Department for International Development (DfID) to develop the next generation of public health vector control tools.

IVCC has been awarded £12 million over the next five years by the UK Department for International Development (DfID) to support the development of new insecticides to combat malaria.
This is part of the UK Government’s commitment to combating diseases that place an enormous burden on the world’s poor. £138 million will go to nine product development partnerships for the development of new tools to treat, control and ultimately eliminate some of the world’s deadliest diseases, including malaria.

International Development Secretary, Justine Greening, said, “The development of new technologies is vital if we are to improve the health of the poorest people through better treatment and prevention, and avoid the unnecessary deaths of children. Working together in product development partnerships, the public and private sectors have a chance to bring together their expertise for the benefit of millions of the world’s poorest and most vulnerable people.”

The CEO of IVCC, Dr Nick Hamon commended DfID for its investment in saving lives amongst the poorest people. ‘This support from the UK government is vital to sustaining the enormous gains that have been made over the past 10 years in preventing malaria through effective vector control tools. Insecticide treated bednets and indoor residual spraying have proved to be very effective at reducing deaths and illness from malaria, but increasing resistance to existing insecticides puts these gains at risk.

With this support from DfID and other major partners such as the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, IVCC will move to the next phase in our development of the first new public health insecticides in 30 years. This novel chemistry will play a major part in bringing to an end this entirely preventable deadly disease which kills hundreds of thousands of children annually, devastates families and keeps countries poor.’

Since it was formed in 2005 IVCC has worked with some of the world’s leading agrochemical companies to identify new active ingredients that will form the basis of totally new insecticides for malaria prevention, and ultimately help to bring about the eradication of the disease. Companies partnering with IVCC have recently introduced two new insecticide formulations that prolong the effective life of current interventions and are proving to be valuable additional tools for malaria prevention.

The World Health Organization Pesticide Evaluation Scheme (WHOPES) has issued a recommendation for a new polymer-enhanced, long-lasting Indoor Residual Spray for malaria vector control. This deltamethrin based spray was jointly developed by Bayer CropScience and IVCC (the Innovative Vector Control Consortium). It represents a viable cost-effective alternative to DDT for malaria control programs. Market introduction across Sub-Saharan Africa and other malaria endemic areas is expected to occur during 2014 once relevant national regulatory approvals are in place.

Since 2007, Bayer CropScience has been working with its partners in IVCC to develop longer lasting indoor residual spray formulations and new active ingredients to manage insect resistance in malaria vector control. The new polymer-enhanced formulation of deltamethrin offers a residual effectiveness of six months. The World Health Organization (WHO) has recognized this unique formulation as having a longer residual lifespan than any other pyrethroid insecticide formulation.

“The success of the international community’s goal of eradicating malaria globally depends ultimately on new ideas and innovation,” said Dr. David Nicholson, Head of Research & Development at Bayer CropScience. “Our long-lasting indoor-residual spray is an effective malaria intervention. As a global innovation and market leader in vector control, we will continue to work closely with IVCC to foster the introduction of new vector control tools for public health.”

“We are delighted to have met this important research milestone in our collaboration with Bayer CropScience”, said Nick Hamon, CEO of IVCC. “This collaborative achievement illustrates the progress which has been made on the original objectives to deliver effective and affordable vector control interventions. I look forward to further successful outcomes from the IVCC partnership with Bayer CropScience.”

There are many countries in Sub-Saharan Africa where the transmission period for malaria can be longer than six months. In these situations, when indoor residual spraying is regarded as an appropriate intervention, a product with longer-lasting efficacy can be very important, reducing the frequency of spraying required and saving considerable costs for malaria control programs.

All insecticide sprays for malaria control are required to be evaluated and recommended by the WHO for effectiveness and safety. Until now the only product formally recognized to have residual effectiveness exceeding six months has been DDT. However, as a Persistent Organic Pollutant (POP), the production and use of DDT is strictly restricted.

Syngenta and IVCC collaboration delivers new long-lasting insecticide formulation, Actellic® 300CS, now recommended by the World Health Organization to fight insecticide resistant mosquitoes.

Syngenta and IVCC are proud to announce that The World Health Organization Pesticide Evaluation Scheme (WHOPES) has granted a formal recommendation for the use of Actellic® 300CS in malaria vector control. The WHO recommendation opens up additional opportunities for more malaria control programs around the world to access this new long lasting insecticide formulation designed for the control of pyrethroid resistant mosquitoes.

Syngenta believes that people deserve to live their lives uninterrupted by mosquitoes and the diseases that they can transmit. Syngenta has a rich pipeline of insecticides and access to advanced delivery technologies and consequently has been providing leading edge solutions on mosquito control for decades.

Mosquitoes have evolved to survive a number of the existing control products and this threatens the effectiveness of disease prevention programs. IVCC is a product development partnership committed to working with industrial partners to accelerate the development and introduction of new tools to meet these challenges. Syngenta and IVCC have had a long standing collaboration to accelerate and enrich the innovation pipeline for mosquito control.

The development of Actellic 300CS was initiated in 2007, not only to control resistance to the pyrethroid class of chemistry, but also deliver longer lasting performance to facilitate greater program efficiency in spraying programs. Since then, the WHO Global Plan for Insecticide Resistance Management recommends the deployment of non pyrethroid products when programs are looking for technology to complement mass distribution of long lasting insecticide treated mosquito nets.

Syngenta used their expertise in microencapsulation technology to create Actellic 300CS, which is designed specifically for residual spraying. Numerous independent trials have demonstrated at least 9 months residual performance on a range of household surfaces, a significant improvement over current alternatives. Trials have also demonstrated control of pyrethroid resistant strains in both Anopheles and Culex species of mosquitoes.

This unique combination of controlling pyrethroid resistance with proprietary long lasting technology provides the opportunity for malaria control program managers have a greater impact on malaria as part of their integrated control program. Long lasting performance allows for reduction of spray program costs through moving to just one application per season whilst also managing pyrethroid resistance. This is essential when long lasting insecticide treated nets are currently dominated by this class of chemistry.

Actellic 300CS is the first commercial product to exit the IVCC pipeline, and this important WHO recognition meets one of Syngenta [MSB1] and IVCC’s commitments to provide access to new technology in disease endemic countries. More than a million people are now estimated to be protected by Actellic 300CS and production has been scaled up to support all key markets.

This development is just one step on the journey to develop new solutions to controlling mosquito-borne disease, and more alternatives are urgently needed, especially in the fight against growing insecticide resistance. Syngenta and IVCC continue to collaborate on the development of the next generation of insecticides, which will provide a robust solution to future insecticide resistance and equip malaria control programs with the tools they need to defeat malaria.

For more information on Actellic 300CS or Syngenta products please contact: vector.control@syngenta.com

Footnote: Actellic is a registered trademark of the the Syngenta Group companies

Syngenta and IVCC collaboration deliver new long-lasting insecticide formulation, Actellic® 300CS, now recommended by the World Health Organization to fight insecticide resistant mosquitoes

IVCC’s stakeholder event in 2013 took place at MIM in Durban, when key individuals and organisations from all over the world gathered to share information and strategies for fighting malaria.

One of IVCC’s key objectives for stakeholder events is to engage with people working in country control programmes. The MIM Pan-African Malaria Conference 2013 in Durban provided a perfect opportunity to make contact and learn from people in the front line of malaria vector control.

The IVCC stand provided a visual summary of key achievements since the launch of IVCC in 2005 and a time frame for delivery of new vector control tools.

There were many visitors to the stand. Most were seeking  information about the progress of IVCC’s collaboration with industry partners to develop the three new active ingredients that will form the basis of a new generation of public health insecticides. A frequent question was, ‘how long before you can deliver?’, indicative of growing concerns about insecticide resistance.

Information about IVCC’s portfolio and details about insecticide resistance were presented to delegates in an IVCC symposium on new tools for the management of insecticide resistance.

Professor Hilary Ranson from LSTM started the IVCC symposium with an overview of insecticide resistance in vector control. Dr Charles Wondji looked at the mechanisms of insecticide resistance and Professor Diabate Abdoulaye considered current strategies and future challenges for malaria vector control in Africa. An industry perspective was provided by Frederic Baur, who outlined the development of new products for insecticide resistance management.

During an evening reception later in the week, the new IVCC CEO, Dr Nick Hamon, outlined the IVCC mission and objectives for the next few years. Tribute was paid to the founders of IVCC and thanks recorded to the committed industry partners and funders who make the work of IVCC possible.
IVCC also took part in a demonstration of the new  Insecticide Quantification Kits (IQKs), which are designed to help spray programmes monitor the effectiveness of indoor residual spraying.

A long-time collaborator of IVCC and LSTM has been awarded this year’s Royal Society Pfizer Award for his malaria research. Dr Abdoulaye Diabate, who is investigating the mating systems of Anopheles gambiae, will receive £60,000 towards a study which aims to cut the mosquito’s high reproductive rate and thereby control the spread of malaria.

Dr Diabate, who is from Burkina Faso, was nominated for the award by LSTM’s Head of Vector Biology, Professor Hilary Ranson. Professor Ranson, who will be present at the award ceremony, said: “Dr Diabate is an exceptionally talented and creative vector biologist who is a thoroughly deserving recipient of the Royal Society Pfizer Award. His pioneering work on mosquito mating behaviour is opening up exciting new possibilities for controlling malaria and I am delighted that he now has the opportunity to pilot some of these ideas via the Pfizer Award.”

“We have collaborated with Dr Diabate on several occasions and the work that he will be able to carry out following this award, will have genuine benefits for all of us involved in trying to control the transmission of malaria.”

The new study, funded by the Royal Society Pfizer Award, will allow Dr Diabate to gather results on male mating behaviour that will be instrumental to the implementation of a full range of new malaria control tools / technologies, for example, engineered mosquitos and sterile insect techniques which rely on a good understanding of male biology.

Commenting on his prize Dr Diabate said: “The Royal Society Pfizer Award is such a wonderful and motivating award for African scientists. Not only does the prize boost high quality research in Africa by empowering African research institutes but in my specific case it will also allow me o quire the skills and knowledge that can help us win the battle against Malaria.”

Dr Diabate is the head of the medical entomology laboratory of the Institut de Recherche en Science de la Santé/Centre Muraz, Burkina Faso.

The Royal Society Pfizer Award is designed to reward scientists, based in Africa, at the outset of their career and to promote science capacity building in the developing world. It is awarded annually. The award, first made in 2006, recognises research scientists making innovative contributions to the biological sciences, including basic medical science.