As I discovered recently, while visiting Forde Abbey, a 12^th century monastery in Dorset, the word about malaria seems to be getting out.

When asked about what I do for a living, I used to expect to start every response with a short explanation of malaria, mosquitoes, insecticides, bed nets and vector control. But this is happening less frequently these days. The general public often knows the basics about malaria and there is an expectation that the challenge of malaria is being managed and a solution is just around the corner.

Just around the corner may be a little optimistic but it certainly it is in sight.  In 2000, <3% of the population at risk from malaria had access to an insecticide treated net; today that number is about 50%.  In the last fourteen years, there has been an estimated 50% global decline of mortality rates. This is something to celebrate, of course, but a staggering 580,000 people still died of malaria in 2013.

The World Health Organization’s new malaria targets are ambitious—to reduce malaria mortality rates and case incidence by ≥90% by 2030, to eliminate malaria from ≥ 35 countries by 2030, and to bring us ‘as close as possible to global eradication.

To achieve this, novel insecticides, drugs and vaccines are essential. IVCC’s mission is to build a toolbox of vector control solutions that can combat insecticide resistance. When IVCC was formed ten years ago, our biggest hurdle was to build partnerships with the major agrochemical industry companies and work with them to identify novel chemistry for public heath use.

Four and a half million compounds and 27 chemical classes later, that challenge has now been replaced with the need to find significant funding to take three new interventions ‘across the finish line’.

In 2013, $2.7 billion was spent on malaria through international and domestic funds. But an estimated $5.1 billion will be needed annually if we are to ensure that malaria ceases to have a devastating impact on people’s health and livelihoods around the world.

So what funding does IVCC need over the next ten years to complete its mission?

It takes much the same process to get a novel insecticide registered and into the right hands as a new drug; chemistry, efficacy, formulations, toxicology, environmental impact and chemistry, registration fees etc. are all needed to provide safe and effective products.

I am very optimistic about the life-saving potential of the IVCC product pipeline, thanks to the incredible support of funders such as the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, UKAID, USAID, Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation, as well as our industry partners such as Syngenta, Bayer, Sumitomo and BASF.

If our current funders ‘stay the course’ until 2025, we need to find an additional $100m, 70% of this in the next four years. I think we can do this, but it will not be easy.

Today we work closely with committed and motivated funders, but there are other sources of funding that could play a part in eradicating malaria.  What about the private sector?   Companies with long-term growth strategies for sub-Saharan Africa, could make a contribution to saving lives and growing the African economy, and at the same time building their brands and repetitional capital.

Are there any senior industry executives out there with the vision to see the value of being a partner in this incredible and winnable fight to eradicate malaria?

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.

I was inspired today by learning about the indirect and somewhat hidden value creation of IVCC capacity building amongst African scientists working in vector control.

I spent the day with the Pan-African Malaria Vector Research Consortium (PAMVERC) team based here at the Kilimanjaro Christian Medical University College in Moshi, Tanzania. IVCC works closely with Professor Mark Roland (LSTMH), Professor Frank Mosha (Director of Research at KCMCo), Dr. Matt Kirby (Program Manager) and the local Moshi scientists to test novel malaria insecticide interventions in the laboratory and field. We are also working, with the support of Alex Wright, to create a unique GLP-like accreditation process to strengthen and improve the efficiency and robustness of field evaluation.

This close IVCC/PAMVERC partnership has indirectly, but very effectively, helped train a new generation of MS and PhD students in entomology and vector biology who can take a lead in the eradication of malaria and other neglected tropical diseases. Over the past few years, some twelve MS students as well as a number of PhD students have worked on IVCC trials for their theses. To name just two, Dr Jovin Kitau, a medical entomologist and Dr Johnson Matowo, a molecular biologist specialising on insecticide resistance.

This often unrecognised approach to capacity building means that innovation funders get a significant return on their investments. It’s a double return, too—in the short term, outstanding trials data that lead to better prevention of malaria transmission, and in the longer term, building a foundation of local expertise and talent. This foundation of experts in malaria and vector control is essential to our hopes of eventually eradicating malaria from Africa.

I wonder if we can do more formally to promote the training and development of local scientists?

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.