OXFORD, England, October 18, 2018 /PRNewswire/ --
Expanded
collaboration with the Bill & Melinda Gates
Foundation will leverage Oxitec's Friendly™
biological engineering platform to develop a self-limiting
Anopheles stephensi strain to help combat
malaria in India, Middle East and the Horn of Africa
Oxitec's
2nd generation technology is
designed to primarily reduce pest populations and as a secondary
benefit may help reverse insecticide resistance
in pest insects, unlocking additional value from
traditional pesticides that are losing
effectiveness
Oxitec Ltd. ("Oxitec"), UK-based
biotechnology company and wholly owned subsidiary of Intrexon
Corporation (NASDAQ: XON), today announced that it is expanding its
collaboration with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation ("Gates
Foundation") to develop a self-limiting mosquito strain to combat
the Anopheles stephensi mosquito that transmits malaria in
South Asia, the Middle East and the Horn of Africa using its 2nd
generation Friendly™ Mosquito technology. Oxitec and the Gates
Foundation entered into a partnership earlier this year to develop
a Friendly™ strain that is intended to suppress populations of the
malaria-transmitting Anopheles albimanus vector in parts of
the Western Hemisphere.
(Logo:
https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/771402/Oxitec_Logo.jpg )
Oxitec has developed a powerful
biological engineering platform that can be used to develop a range
of self-limiting insects, including Oxitec's Friendly™ Mosquitoes
that have been tested and deployed around the world to suppress the
disease-transmitting Aedes aegypti mosquito. Oxitec's
Friendly™ insects are designed to significantly reduce the
population of a targeted pest species in a way that is safe for
humans and the environment.
The new Friendly™ Anopheles strains will both incorporate Oxitec's
2nd generation technology, which utilizes a single
self-limiting gene to kill disease-transmitting female pest
mosquitoes in the wild. Upon release into the wild, Friendly™
Mosquitoes mate with wild females, allowing only male offspring -
also containing a self-limiting gene - to survive to adulthood
while all female offspring die before adulthood. This has a direct
suppression effect on the targeted mosquito population. As the
technology continues to work, the surviving non-biting males
subsequently seek out and mate with wild females and pass along the
self-limiting trait, each generation of males decreasing by half,
until the Friendly™ Mosquitoes no longer persist in the
environment. This 2nd generation technology, which is
currently being deployed in Indaiatuba Brazil, builds upon Oxitec's
1st generation of mosquitoes that have been released and
successfully evaluated for effectiveness in multiple countries
worldwide.
"This expanded collaboration with the Gates Foundation will help
develop yet another potentially powerful vector control tool in the
global fight against malaria. This additional program will allow
for the simultaneous development of two self-limiting mosquito
strains targeted at two critical malaria vectors," said Grey
Frandsen, CEO of Oxitec. "By developing these mosquito strains
together, we will generate economies of scale, thereby accelerating
how quickly we can advance these two new Friendly™ Mosquito strains
to the field where they can have a real impact."
In addition to pest population suppression, Oxitec's
2nd generation Friendly™ technology introduces a new
secondary benefit not seen in any other technology - the potential
ability to reverse insecticide resistance in wild-type insect
populations that have become resistant to traditional pesticides.
Oxitec's technology introduces susceptible genes into the
environment via the surviving male offspring, thereby diluting
existing resistance in established wild pest populations.
Anopheles stephensi and Anopheles
albimanus are malaria vectors that represent a threat to
billions of people globally, including in India. Current tools and treatments are
insufficient to achieve malaria suppression in many countries, and
malaria vectors and parasites have begun to develop resistance to
insecticides, which is likely to only intensify in the future.
"Traditional approaches to combating malaria are not working.
New approaches are needed, which is why we are developing new
technologies that can be used as stand-alone solutions and as part
of integrated pest management programs in tandem with traditional
control methods," said Simon Warner,
Chief Science Officer at Oxitec. "In particular, we are very
excited about the potential impact our 2nd generation
insects will have on the growing threat of insecticide resistance,
as our technology can re-introduce susceptibility amongst
populations that have developed resistance to pesticides. This is a
big advancement and a unique benefit of Oxitec's 2nd
generation technology that we and our collaborators have already
shown works in agricultural pests. We are excited to apply the same
principle again," said Warner.
More on how male-selecting Friendly™ Mosquitoes
work
Oxitec has been working in mosquito control for over a decade and
pioneered the use of a biological method to suppress wild
populations of dangerous mosquito species through the release of
male Friendly™ Mosquitoes, which do not bite and do not transmit
diseases. When released, Friendly™ males search for wild females to
mate and their offspring inherit a self-limiting gene that causes
either all progeny or just the female progeny to die before
reaching adulthood, based on whether the mosquito contains
1st generation or 2nd generation technology,
respectively. Friendly™ Mosquitoes offspring also inherit a
fluorescent marker that allows tracking and monitoring at a level
never before achieved, making the assessment of effectiveness more
accurate throughout the whole Friendly™ Mosquitoes deployment
program. Unlike other approaches, Friendly™ Mosquitoes do not
persist in the environment or leave any ecological footprint.
About Oxitec
Oxitec is a pioneer in using genetic engineering to control insect
pests that spread disease and damage crops, and was founded in 2002
as a spinout from Oxford University
(UK). Oxitec is a subsidiary of Intrexon Corporation (NASDAQ: XON),
which engineers biology to help solve some of the world's biggest
problems. Follow us on Twitter at @Oxitec, on Facebook, and
LinkedIn.
About Intrexon Corporation
Intrexon Corporation (NASDAQ: XON) is Powering the Bioindustrial
Revolution with Better DNA™ to create biologically-based
products that improve the quality of life and the health of the
planet. The company's integrated technology suite provides
its partners across diverse markets with industrial-scale design
and development of complex biological systems delivering
unprecedented control, quality, function, and performance of living
cells. We call our synthetic biology approach Better
DNA®, and we invite you to discover more
at http://www.dna.com or follow us on Twitter
at @Intrexon, on Facebook, and LinkedIn.
Safe Harbor Statement
Some of the statements made in this press release are
forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements are
based upon our current expectations and projections about future
events and generally relate to our plans, objectives and
expectations for the development of our business. Although
management believes that the plans and objectives reflected in or
suggested by these forward-looking statements are reasonable, all
forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties and
actual future results may be materially different from the plans,
objectives and expectations expressed in this press release.
For more information, contact:
Oxitec Contact UK:
Michael Jooste
Director, Global Communications
Tel: +1(206)889-4253
info@oxitec.com
Intrexon Contact:
Marie Rossi, PhD
Vice President,
Communications
Tel: +1(301)556-9850
publicrelations@intrexon.com
Steven Harasym
Vice President, Investor Relations
Tel +1(214)721-0607
investors@dna.com
SOURCE Oxitec Ltd