Bayer CropScience signs research agreement with IVCC

Bayer CropScience and the Innovative Vector Control Consortium (IVCC), Liverpool, UK have entered into a research agreement. The project, which will initially run for three years, aims to discover new active ingredients for Public Health Products (PHPs) that will be effective against mosquitoes which transmit diseases such as malaria that are resistant to conventional insecticides. Bayer CropScience has the expertise needed to help develop such active ingredients: the company will contribute its extensive library of substances and screening capabilities and its many years of experience in chemical synthesis and insecticides research and development to the project.

Professor Dr. Friedrich Berschauer, Chairman of the Board of Management of Bayer CropScience AG, said: “As a global innovation and market leader in the vector control industry, we want to contribute with our products and the know-how of our experts to considerably push back malaria. Diseases can be avoided by taking effective action against their vectors. Strong public-private-partnerships like this new cooperation with the IVCC are key to the elimination of tropical diseases.” According to figures of the World Health Organization (WHO), about 3.3 billion people – half of the world′s population – are at risk of malaria. Every year, there are about 250 million cases and nearly one million deaths.

Commenting on the project, IVCC Chief Executive Officer Professor Dr. Janet Hemingway said: “Resistance to current pesticides is one of the greatest problems facing us in our battle against malaria – one of the biggest killers in the developing world. This project gives us access to the profound expertise of the agrochemical industry and brings its special aptitude to bear on one of the greatest challenges to health in the developing world.”

The development of new PHPs is vital for improved and sustainable vector control. Dr. Alexander Klausener, Bayer CropScience’s Head of Research added: “The development of new active ingredients for pesticides could be a breakthrough in our fight against the insect vectors that transmit malaria. Our researchers are very proud to work with the IVCC and are confident that together we will discover new solutions based on our powerful pipeline of innovative molecules.” Substances showing promise in initial screening will be subjected to a newly designed screening cascade designed to show efficacy against resistant adult mosquitoes. An interdisciplinary team will further chemically optimize the selected substances and then select the most promising candidate compounds for field testing.