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Vector Expedited Review Voucher (VERV) stakeholder event held in Washington DC 20th March 2024

Duke University and US Government relations firm DC Legislative and Regulatory Services co-sponsored a Vector Expedited Review Voucher (VERV) stakeholder event in Washington DC on 28th February, 2024.  The purpose of the meeting was to explain and discuss the December 2023 Pesticide Registration (PR) notice published by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) regarding the VERV program.

Held at the Duke University’s “Duke in DC” office on Pennsylvania Avenue, the event was attended by the EPA, the Innovative Vector Control Consortium (IVCC), the agrochemical industry and other private and public sector organisations, including the American Mosquito Control Association (AMCA).  All are stakeholders in the development of innovative vector control tools to support malaria eradication.

Jeff Moe, adjunct professor at the Duke Global Health Institute, and a co-author of the 2017 Health Affairs article which proposed VERV, opened the event by reflecting on the successful introduction of the US Food and Drug Administration’s Priority Review Voucher (PRV) programme in 2007: “PRV had a positive impact on the development of treatments with limited profitability for neglected tropical diseases. The VERV programme can, like PRV, stimulate the development of innovative vector control solutions to help us better control, and hopefully eradicate, diseases such as malaria.”

Chris Larkin, Director of Operations and Communications at IVCC, who took part in a panel session, added: “Incentives like the VERV program are needed to ensure that innovative vector control tools are developed and made available with new modes of action to help address the threat of insecticide resistance which is critical for the fight against diseases such as malaria which still claim over 600,000 lives every year.”

Participants heard from EPA representatives including Susan Jennings (Senior Advisor for Public Health, Office of Pesticide Programs), Stephen Scheibel (Pesticide Registration Improvement Act (PRIA) Coordinator,) and Billy Smith (Director, Registration Division, Office of Pesticide Programs).  They described the operation of the VERV program including the eligibility criteria to receive a VERV award.  Jennings explained that to be eligible for a voucher, active ingredients must demonstrate efficacy against insecticide-resistant mosquitos (per efficacy guidelines), have a novel or unique mechanism different from other insecticides already registered by the agency for mosquito control, and target mosquitos which transmit disease.

Jennings added that, whilst active ingredients must not be contained in any EPA registered pesticide product, a registrant may petition the EPA to issue a voucher for a repurposed agricultural insecticide by demonstrating a significant public health benefit.

Jennings also highlighted that any novel mode of action will be assessed on case by basis by the Office of Pesticide Program (OPP) through the consideration of factors such as:

Full details of the EPA VERV program can be found at: https://www.epa.gov/mosquitocontrol/vector-expedited-review-voucher-verv-program

www.ivcc.com/vector-control/vector-expedited-review-voucher-verv/

www.vectorvoucher.info

 

IVCC receives new grant funding from the Australian Government to support vector control innovation across the Indo-Pacific Region. 20th March 2024

IVCC is delighted to confirm that the Australian Government, has awarded IVCC a five-year, 17 million Australian dollar grant to advance the control of malaria in Papua New Guinea (PNG) and other Indo-Pacific countries.

Funded through the Australian Government’s Partnerships for a Healthy Region initiative, IVCC will continue the expansion of a vector control toolbox tailored to regional contexts which will better equip countries to prevent, control and work towards eliminating malaria and other vector-borne diseases.

The new grant which runs until January 2029, builds upon the programme of work IVCC initiated in 2018 under its first grant.  The workstreams developed under the new grant will support capacity-strengthening for the evaluation and adoption of new vector control tools in PNG and the further evaluation and uptake of spatial emanators in the Greater Mekong Subregion.  As a new area of focus, IVCC will also support improving the tools and approaches available for the control on Aedes-borne diseases in the region, including dengue and chikungunya.

Under its first grant, IVCC worked with its partners to demonstrate the efficacy of bite prevention tools deployed to forest-exposed populations in Cambodia at risk of malaria. In PNG, national capacity to evaluate and scale-up novel vector control tools was strengthened by developing new entomological facilities, a range of new product trials and establishing a national-led stakeholder network.

IVCC CEO, Justin McBeath said: “We are extremely grateful to the Australian Government for again entrusting IVCC to undertake this important vector control work across Papua New Guinea and the Indo-Pacific region.  In delivering our objectives, IVCC will work with local partners to support capacity development to ensure that local benefits are realised from the project and that the focus areas of the activities address the issues that are important to local communities and the region.”

Minister for Foreign Affairs, Senator the Hon Penny Wong said: “We cannot have the peaceful stable and prosperous region we want without improving the health and well-being of our region’s communities.  As close neighbours, friends and equals, Australia will continue to work with Papua New Guinea and Indo-Pacific partners to meet current and future health challenges.”

 

Image credit: Graham Small / IVCC

Vector control delivers global impact to reach the Sustainable Development Goals 20th March 2024

During British Science Week (8th to 17th March, 2024), IVCC proudly participated in a UK parliamentary reception, showcasing the groundbreaking New Nets Project (NNP).

Hosted by STOPAIDS, the All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on HIV & AIDS, the APPG for life sciences, and the Parliamentary & Scientific Committee, the event celebrated the crucial role of UK-based science and innovation in advancing progress towards health-related Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by 2030.

The evening spotlighted collaborative efforts between UK-led research and innovation institutions, and multilateral institutions, such as Unitaid, in accelerating global health responses through innovative new health products. Tenu Avafia, Deputy Director of Unitaid, spoke of the interconnected roles of Unitaid and The Global Fund in global health responses. The NNP, led by IVCC and funded by Unitaid and The Global Fund, piloted the use of new dual-insecticide nets in areas of moderate to high malaria transmission throughout sub-Saharan Africa. The project underscores the importance of product development and catalytic market-shaping interventions to deliver and scale up high-impact, cost-effective prevention tools that meet the needs of endemic countries.

While addressing the audience, Shadow Minister for Science, Research, and Innovation, Chi Onwurah, emphasized the pivotal role of partnerships in fostering innovation. The success and profound impact of the NNP are largely attributed to a geographically diverse consortium of partners. Their collaborative efforts encompassed trials, pilot studies, cost-effectiveness research, impact modelling, and implementation endeavours.

Chi also called for a commitment from governments to long-term stable funding, vital to deliver on global health goals.

Download the New Nets Project poster presented at the reception here.

L to R: Tenu Avafia (Deputy Director of Unitaid), Laura Roberts (IVCC Communications Manager) and Justin McBeath (IVCC CEO). Image Credit: Martha Varney / Malaria and Neglected Tropical Diseases APPG.

Mining against malaria 20th March 2024

Our Africa Regional Coordinator, Andrew Saibu, contributed an editorial in the latest edition of the South African Pest Control Association’s (SAPCA), Pest News.

In the piece, Andrew makes the case for the role of the private sector, and mining companies in particular, in supporting malaria control throughout sub-Saharan Africa.

The Pest News February 2024* instalment is available via this download. Andrew’s editorial is available from page nine onward: Mines against malaria.

 

 

*with thanks to SAPCA.

 

 

Labour Party MPs and Malaria No More UK visit IVCC 19th December 2023

IVCC was delighted to welcome a delegation from the Labour Party, including Kim Johnson MP, Paula Barker MP, and Dr Zubir Ahmed a Labour PPC to Liverpool to meet representatives from IVCC and the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine (LSTM).

Accompanied by Astrid Bonfield, CEO of Malaria No More UK and Anyika Onuora, Olympic athlete and Malaria No More UK ambassador and staff from both LSTM and IVCC, the Labour Party delegation heard about the innovative vector control pipeline that IVCC is developing. For example, the impact of IVCC’s long held strategic aim to bring new active ingredients (AIs) to the insecticide-treated net (ITN) market was highlighted by the evidence and policy endorsement of BASF’s Interceptor® G2.

The group also heard about evidence developed on the efficacy of outdoor tools by Project Bite Interruption Toward Elimination (BITE) and Newly Adapted Tools Network Against vector-borne disease Transmission (NATNAT) has enhanced the evidence base for these new product categories, through the Indo-Pacific Initiative (IPI.

These, and other success storied, showcased the importance of collaborative working and how the commitment of our partners from industry, academia, the public sector, and advocacy, make life-saving vector control possible.

The guests also visited the Liverpool Insect Testing Establishment (LITE) which supports the testing of insecticide-based products for commercial partners against insecticide-resistant colonies.  LITE maintains a range of insecticide susceptible and resistant colonies of mosquitoes and provides a range of approaches for insecticide efficacy testing. The guests closed the day with a visit to LSTM’s venom unit which houses the largest and most diverse collection of tropical venomous snakes in the UK and leads pioneering research into a universal anti-venom and improvements in the efficacy, affordability and safety of snakebite treatments.

 

Photo caption: The delegation poses at the entrance of the LSTM buildings.

From left to right: David Lalloo (LSTM Director), Paula Barker MP, Dr Zubir Ahmed, Astrid Bonfield (Malaria No More UK CEO), Anyika Onuora, Professor Martin James Donnelly (Head of Vector Biology Department, LSTM), Justin McBeath (IVCC CEO) and Kim Johnson MP.

Credit: LSTM/ Alejandra Cardona-Mayorga

 

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