Insect-borne diseases Archives

News and Trends 25 Jan 2017

Genetically Engineered Mosquitoes will arrive in India to fight Dengue

Oxitec is preparing to start trials testing its solution to reduce the population of disease-transmitting insects in India with its own genetically modified mosquitoes. Oxitec, a spin-out from Oxford University, engineers mosquitoes to reduce their populations in areas where they spread infectious diseases. After success in Brazil and the Cayman Islands, the company is now heading […]

January 25, 2017 - 3 minutesmins - By Clara Rodríguez Fernández

News and Trends 27 Oct 2016

Oxitec scales up Mosquito production with a new Factory in Brazil

Since Brazil became the first country in the world to deploy GM mosquitos, Oxitec has opened a factory there to produce its Friendly Aedes aegypti. Oxitec has opened a large-scale mosquito factory in Piracicaba, Brazil, to scale up production of their Friendly Aedes aegypti mosquitos. These mosquitos are effectively sterilized so they don’t transmit infectious […]

October 27, 2016 - 2 minutesmins - By Evelyn Warner

News and Trends 2 Sep 2016

Vienna-based Themis Bioscience frontlines vaccine development against emerging diseases

From Switzerland, we depart once again, this time for Vienna. This week, we are visiting Themis Bioscience, our Biotech of the Week (and also stopping for schnitzel). City: Vienna, Austria Founded: 2009 Employees: 4 Financial Data: €10M Total Raised (as of 12/2015) CEO: Erich Tauber Mission: Themis Bioscience targets emerging diseases, like Zika and Chikungunya, and aims to develop […]

September 2, 2016 - 1 minutemin - By Evelyn Warner

News and Trends 22 Aug 2016

This new vaccine could tackle both Zika and Dengue at once

These potentially fatal diseases have reached pandemic proportions and are starting to threaten the Western world. Excivion (UK) and Xenetic (US) have announced a partnership to develop a combined vaccine for Dengue and Zika Viruses using new vaccine delivery technology. Following on Sanofi’s initiatives to combat the spread of Zika and Dengue viruses, a transatlantic partnership between […]

August 22, 2016 - 2 minutesmins - By Evelyn Warner

oxitec aedes aegypti grand cayman zika dengue

News and Trends 1 Aug 2016

The Cayman Islands will now also release GM Mosquitoes against Zika Virus

A court finally allowed the release of Oxitec‘s ‘friendly’ mosquitoes in the Grand Cayman (1 of the 3 islands). If the technique repeats its recent successes, the local population of Zika-transmitting species could decrease by 90%. Located in the tropics, the Cayman Islands are one of the territories at risk of the spread of Aedes […]

August 1, 2016 - 2 minutesmins - By Denise Neves Gameiro

cancer hypoxia antimalarial drug atovaquone

News and Trends 26 Jul 2016

This Malaria drug is being re-purposed for Cancer Radiotherapy

Cancer Research UK says an old anti-malaria drug could be repurposed as a cancer therapy. In pre-clinical studies, this drug increases oxygen levels in tumors, making them easier to treat with radiotherapy. Atovaquone has been on the market since 2000 as part of an anti-malarial drug. It is also commercialized by GSK under the name Mepron for […]

July 26, 2016 - 3 minutesmins - By Denise Neves Gameiro

News and Trends 20 Jun 2016

GMO Tobacco could Produce cheaper Medicine for Malaria

Researchers from the Max Planck Institute of Molecular Plant Physiology in Potsdam have altered tobacco to produce large yields of artemisinin – the most effective treatment for malaria but still without a cheap and reliable source. Artemisinin is used in the most effective treatments against malaria, the discovery of which was worth a Nobel Prize. […]

June 20, 2016 - 3 minutesmins - By Denise Neves Gameiro

News and Trends 13 Apr 2016

A New Cellular ‘Back Door’ has been found to fight Malaria

Paris & Strasbourg (France) researchers have discovered an ‘Achilles Heel’ for malaria: A specific molecule the parasite needs from the host. Could this spawn a new generation of Parasitic disease drugs? Malaria is a parasitic disease that was responsible for over 400,000 deaths worldwide just in 2015, according to the WHO – especially in sub-Saharan Africa. However, the current […]

April 13, 2016 - 3 minutesmins - By Denise Neves Gameiro

zika mosquito oxitcec fda swarm florida trial genetic engineering infectious disease

News and Trends 14 Mar 2016

Florida to release Genetically Engineered Mosquitoes to stop Zika Virus

Oxitec (UK) is on track to be allowed to trial their self-limiting, genetically engineered mosquitoes in the US – and stop the spread of Dengue and Zika. As a spin-off from Oxford University, Oxitec specialises in using genetic engineering to control insect pest populations with the ‘Sterile Insect Technique’. This is an interesting alternative to pesticides […]

March 14, 2016 - 3 minutesmins - By Denise Neves Gameiro

News and Trends 5 Oct 2015

Medicine Nobel Prize for Parasite Drug Discoveries which saved Billions

The Nobel Prize for Medicine and Physiology has been jointly awarded to Youyou Tu (the first ever Chinese recipient of a Nobel Prize in this category) for discovering the malarial medicine Artemisinin, and to William C. Campbell and Satoshi Ōmura, for their pioneering work in developing a major parasitic round worm disease drug, Ivermectin. These […]

October 5, 2015 - 4 minutesmins - By Dani Bancroft

News and Trends 10 Aug 2015

Oxitec’s revolutionary Genetically Modified Insects acquired by Intrexon for €146M

Oxitec‘s self-limiting gene technique, which is designed to exterminate dangerous insects, has a price now: $160M (€146M). US-based Intrexon absorbed the Oxford University’s spinout with its unique technology to accelerate the crackdown of dengue infections and crop damages. As we reported early this year, Intrexon Corporation recently partnered across diverse markets, all being part of […]

August 10, 2015 - 3 minutesmins - By Philip Hemme

News and Trends 3 Aug 2015

Sanofi’s CEO, Olivier Brandicourt takes stock of its Biotech pipeline

Olivier Brandicourt, new CEO of Sanofi since last April, has been interviewed by EuroBusiness Media on the company’s last results. The successor of Chris Viehbacher took the opportunity to show the good results made by its Biotech pipeline. Genzyme, the rare diseases arm of Sanofi, was an important growth driver again this quarter. Total sales of the Rare […]

August 3, 2015 - 3 minutesmins - By Joachim Eeckhout

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