Our Solution
We are working to address Australia’s biggest invasive pest challenges.
Our Solution
We are working to address Australia’s
biggest invasive pest challenges.
Friendly™ Aedes aegypti: Preparing for Impact in Australia
Oxitec has submitted a dossier application to the Office of the Gene Technology Regulator (OGTR) for biosafety approval for Friendly™ Aedes aegypti, which was developed in Oxitec’s research hub in Oxfordshire, UK.
Friendly™ Aedes aegypti targets the invasive mosquito, Aedes aegypti, which spreads viral diseases like dengue, chikungunya, Zika and yellow fever. In Australia, this mosquito has established in northern and central Queensland.
Oxitec’s targeted, biological Friendly™ solutions are harmless to local ecosystems, are species-specific, and has been piloted in South, Central and North America. It is proven to control the dengue-transmitting Aedes aegypti mosquito by more than 95% in dengue-prone urban communities. The Friendly™ Aedes aegypti is now being sold, in just-add-water egg devices, to households, businesses and governments across Brazil.
Environmental releases of Friendly™ Aedes aegypti have previously been approved by both the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) of the US, as well as the Brazilian government biosafety regulator, CTNBio.
Friendly™ Aedes albopictus: Tackling the World’s Most Invasive Mosquito
The Asian tiger mosquito, Aedes albopictus, is an aggressive daytime biter which transmits debilitating and dangerous viral diseases such as dengue, Chikungunya and Zika. Experts predict that if it continues to spread uncontrolled it will pose a disease threat to more than 6 billion people.
In 2023, with funding from Australia’s national science agency, CSIRO, Oxitec launched a new development program in the UK to develop a Friendly ™ Aedes albopictus – a safe, effective, and self -limiting strain of the mosquito that results in non - biting, non -disease transmitting male mosquitoes. This is the first step towards delivering an urgently needed, highly effective biological solution for Aedes albopictus in the Pacific region and beyond.
Friendly™ fall armyworm: Preparing the Next Generation of Sustainable Agriculture
Fall armyworm poses a major threat to food security and economic sustainability worldwide. This invasive pest can be difficult to control and has developed resistance to conventional tools such as sprayed insecticides and biotech crops. It can result in the loss of up to 50% of farmers’ crops, and is imposing an economic burden of billions of dollars across Africa, Asia and Oceania.
Releases of the Friendly™ fall armyworm males reduce pest populations in a safe, biological and environmentally friendly way. This approach is designed to work hand in hand with the existing tools available to farmers, counteracting pest resistance to offer long term crop protection.
Friendly™ fall armyworm will be the most sustainable, scalable, targeted and easy-to-use biocontrol product for fall armyworm on the market.
OUr Solution
Oxitec’s Friendly™ solutions provide a safe, targeted, environmentally sustainable solution for controlling mosquitoes.
A Friendly™ mosquito is already proven against the dengue fever mosquito, Aedes aegypti, suppressing populations of this invasive pest by more than 95% in urban communities in Brazil. In 2022, Oxitec launched this Friendly™ Aedes aegypti product in Brazil, where it is now serving households, communities and businesses nationwide.
Oxitec has now developed a Friendly™ Anopheles stephensi, which is now in Djibouti for field pilots in malaria-threatened communities.
Oxitec Friendly™ males – which do not bite - carry a self-limiting gene that, when passed on, prevents their female offspring from surviving to adulthood. With regular releases of Friendly™ males, the number of female mosquitoes in subsequent generations is reduced, resulting in a reduction in the pest insect population. Friendly™ males, and offspring carrying the self-limiting gene, can be tracked through the linked marker gene.
Friendly™ males are released
The Friendly™ males mate with pest females
Female offspring do not survive
A Sustainable Solution
+ Precise
Friendly™ male mosquitoes only target their own species. They will not harm other, beneficial insects – unlike some other methods of control.
+ Environmentally Sustainable
Deployment of Friendly™ male mosquitoes does not use any chemicals that are harmful to the environment, and it has no harmful effects on beneficial species.
+ Non-persistent
The self-limiting system means that the self-limiting gene carried by Friendly™ male mosquitoes cannot establish in the ecosystem.
+ Non-toxic
The proteins of the introduced genes carried by Friendly™ male mosquitoes do not produce any toxins or allergens, making them safe for use in any environment.
Friendly™ mosquito technology reduces reliance on traditional insecticides and pesticides and can slow development of pest resistance to insecticides.
Friendly™ mosquitoes are target-specific, non-biting, non-toxic, and self-limiting in the environment.
Oxitec Friendly™ technology has no harmful effects on the ecosystems in which it is applied.