IVCC is to receive new funding of £25million from UKAID for its work developing new anti-malarial insecticides. The announcement was made by the Secretary of State for International Development, The Rt Hon Priti Patel MP, at the launch of the WHO World Malaria Report 2016 in London.

‘We are here to celebrate the continuing progress in the battle against malaria, and the leadership role the UK is playing as part of the global effort,’ she said. ‘But progress is now overshadowed by the big issue of drug resistance and insecticide resistance. So it is imperative that the world continues to affirm its commitment to tackling malaria today, and to meeting that critical target agreed last year, of reducing the malaria burden by a further 90% by 2030.’

‘The UK has been at the forefront of the fight against malaria for many years, but we must keep up the momentum. Long lasting insecticide treated nets and indoor residual spraying of homes have had a major impact in the fight against malaria. With our support, IVCC are on track to deliver three new active ingredients to the market by 2022.’

Thanking UKAID, IVCC CEO, Dr Nick Hamon said, ‘This is absolutely wonderful news. This grant will result in significant impact through the creation of a toolbox of novel vector solutions. We thank the staff at UKAID for their outstanding support over the past three years and look forward to working with them over the next four years and beyond. IVCC has a very strong pipeline of potential products, with one new product in particular (Actellic CS), co-developed with Syngenta, saving lives and having a significant impact in Africa’.

Read the full speech of the Secretary of State here

IVCC this week attended Syngenta’s 2017 Good Growth Plan event in Brussels, Belgium.  Dr Nick Hamon, CEO of IVCC was interviewed about their partnership programme and spent time with Syngenta CEO Erik Fyrwald.  Earlier in the day, David Maguire, IVCC’s NgenIRS Director presented to over 200 invited guests providing an insight on how Syngenta’s malarial insecticide Actellic©CS300 is being used, with the support of IVCC and its funder UNITAID, to deliver next generation indoor residual spray programmes across sub-Saharan Africa.

Nick Hamon, CEO of IVCC said: “Field trial partners in Africa play an essential role in the testing of novel vector control products being developed and one of the most important elements of the field trial is the quality of the data generated, as this is the key to establishing the true nature of the products being tested.”

Since 2000, IVCC, in partnership with the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, has been working to strengthen the quality and reliability of data generated by African vector control field trial sites.  This work has included the development of Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs), the auditing of facilities, and follow-up Good Laboratory Practice (GLP) training workshops.

An important element of IVCC’s GLP rollout programme has also been its funding of infrastructure improvements including buildings and equipment at its collaborating trial sites.  This capacity building is establishing a network of facilities in Africa that can generate testing data on vector control products of the highest standard.

Professor Franklin Mosha, Test Facility Manager for the KCMUCo facility said: “Reaching this important milestone is a major achievement for IVCC and KCMUCo, and credit is due to all of the staff in Moshi who have implemented enormous changes in relation to their facilities, working practices and culture over a relatively short but intense period of time.”

Nick Hamon, CEO of IVCC added: “A future network of GLP certified trials sites across Africa will allow manufacturers of vector control products to generate their own efficacy data for inclusion in their product dossiers submitted to the WHO product evaluation process. This represents a major step forward for vector control product testing, which will be of major importance in delivering the IVCC mission and malaria elimination in the future.”

Six further IVCC collaborating trials sites are now planning their GLP studies and will be submitting their applications for OECD GLP certification through SANAS.

Notes to journalist

IVCC

IVCC is a non-profit public-private partnership, which aims to save lives, protect health, and increase prosperity in areas where disease transmitted by insects is endemic. It brings together the best minds to develop new solutions to prevent disease transmission. By focusing resources and targeting practical scientific solutions, it accelerates the process from innovation to impact.  IVCC has several novel public health insecticide active ingredients at the point of final development, for delivery in about 2022.  Although primarily targeted at malaria vectors, these insecticides will have application to other NTDs.  IVCC is also currently exploring control of mosquitoes that transmit outdoors and during the day.

The Innovative Vector Control Consortium (IVCC) is delighted to announce that, resulting from a collaboration with BASF and the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, a new type of Long Lasting Insecticidal Net (LLIN) has received a recommendation for use by the World Health Organization (WHO).

This new LLIN, Interceptor® G2, combines the current pyrethroid class of public health insecticide used in bednets across malaria endemic countries, with a repurposed insecticide from agriculture called Chlorfenapyr.  The successful mixture of these two active ingredients coated on a LLIN represents a major advance in the mission to overcome insecticide resistance.  Chlorfenapyr has a different mode of action from current WHO recommended public health insecticides.

Liverpool based IVCC played an instrumental part in bringing this product to the recommendation stage, supporting and funding the project during the field trials and, as project partner, leading the technical progress of the project through its External Scientific Advisory Committee (ESAC).

Nick Hamon, CEO of IVCC said: “Interceptor® G2 is a major step forward in the battle against mosquito insecticide resistance.  We hope and expect this to be the first of several novel vector control products IVCC will support bringing to market in the coming years to help eradicate malaria”.

“Developing new vector control tools would not be possible without the dedication of our industry partners and the visionary support of our funders.  Without the financial backing of organisations such as the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and UKaid, the complex development, testing and evidence gathering exercises needed to support novel vector control products would simply not be possible.  They, along with BASF, deserve immense credit.”

Dave Malone, Technical Manager at IVCC added; “The growing intensity and distribution of resistance to pyrethroids threatens to undermine the great progress that has been made against malaria by the use of LLINs, particularly in sub-Saharan African where 90 per cent of malaria deaths occur.  By combining pyrethroids with a new class of chemistry, these new LLINs have the potential to protect and save many more lives.”

IVCC is delighted to support the inaugural “World Pest Day” launched in Beijing on 6th June 2017.

Initiated by the Chinese Pest Control Association and with the support of the World Health Organization (WHO), the Federation of Asian & Oceania Pest Managements Association (FAOPMA), the National Pest Management Association  in the USA (NPMA) and the Confederation of European Pest Management Associations (CEPA), the aim of the day is to raise awareness of the devastating impact of pests around the world.

Mosquitoes, are just one of many vector borne pests capable of carrying deadly diseases. Today, there are 2.5 billion people in more than 100 countries threatened by diseases such as dengue, yellow fever, chikungunya, schistosomiasis, dysentery and typhoid.

IVCC continues to develop strong ties with China.  In November 2016 Liu Qiyong, Director, WHO Collaborating Centre for Vector Control Surveillance and Management and current IVCC Board member, hosted a visit by IVCC CEO Nick Hamon to China CDC.  There they discussed novel vector control solutions for Aedes mosquitoes due to their widespread insecticide resistance in the region.   IVCC also invited China CDC to visit the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation office in Beijing to advocate for China’s continued investment in vector control projects.