Oxitec, Ltd. (“Oxitec”) is entering into a cooperative agreement with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to develop a new strain of Oxitec’s self-limiting Friendly™ Mosquitoes to combat a mosquito species that spreads malaria
June 21st, 2018“…….Oxitec will be using its new 2nd generation Friendly™ Mosquito technology to develop an Anopheles albimanus strain to address one of the most important vectors of malaria in the Americas. All of Oxitec’s Friendly™ Mosquito strains are designed to significantly reduce the population of a targeted mosquito species in the wild without impact on human or environmental health. Upon release into the wild, Oxitec’s 2nd generation male-selecting strains mate with wild females, and only male offspring with a self-limiting gene survive to adulthood. The female offspring from these matings – only female mosquitoes bite – will die before reaching adulthood. The surviving non-biting males subsequently seek out and mate with more wild females and pass along the self-limiting trait for up to ten generations before no longer persisting in the environment. When deployed as part of an integrated vector control program, this strain is anticipated to dramatically reduce wild populations of this malaria-transmitting mosquito species, while still ensuring Oxitec self-limiting mosquitoes do not persist in the environment...…..”