Posted on November 23, 2010

Vector Control Consortium Awarded $50 Million by Gates Foundation for Malaria-Prevention Efforts

The UK-based Innovative Vector Control Consortium has announced a five-year, $50 million grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to continue its development of insecticides which target mosquitoes and other insects that transmit malaria, as well as dengue and similary neglected tropical diseases.

Established in 2005 with an initial $50.7 million grant from the Gates Foundation, IVCC has since developed a pipeline of new, reformulated, and repurposed insecticides in partnership with leading global chemical companies. The organization also has built a suite of information systems and diagnostic tools to promote more effective and efficient use of insecticides; many of those products are nearing the end of their development phase and should be ready for rollout in the coming year.

The grant will support new and ongoing efforts to develop active insecticide ingredients and complete IVCC's existing portfolio of insecticide projects. According to the organization's CEO, Janet Hemingway, resistance to insecticides is growing at an alarming rate. In Africa, for example, a child dies from malaria every forty-five seconds.

"This award allows us continue the pioneering work we're doing in partnership with the chemical industry to find and develop totally new classes of insecticide to help put an end to this needless loss of life," said Hemingway. "Our strategic aim is to provide three new active ingredients for use in public health insecticides by 2020."