Healthy People

Healthy Environment

Oxitec has developed an innovative technology to Founded:

2002
control insect pests that carry human disease and
No of Employees:
damage crops. 30

Focus:
Oxitec aims to reduce the spread of dengue fever, an emerging disease that affects one
Effective and environment-friendly
hundred million people each year across the world and which is increasing in severity.
technology for the control of insect pests
Oxitec is also targeting insect pests that damage fruit and cotton. Oxitec’s proprietary in public health and agriculture.
technology employs modern biotechnology to render insects sterile and thereby control
Investors
populations, an approach which is environmentally sensitive and safe.
University of Oxford
Oxford Capital Partners
Since its foundation as a spin out from the University of Oxford in 2002, Oxitec has built
East Hill Management
a broad portfolio of patented technology as well as world-leading expertise in insect
molecular biology and regulatory affairs. The Company has advanced products through Management
multiple testing steps, and works together with the governments of the USA and Malaysia. Dr David Brooks, CEO
Dr Luke Alphey, Research Director
Ann Kramer, Head of Business Development
A global opportunity Awards
There is increasing world attention on the problem of mosquito-borne diseases. Dengue The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation

fever is a virus that is spread by the urban, day-biting Aedes aegypti mosquito: Grand Challenges for Global Health Program

World Economic Forum Technology

• Dengue is increasing in incidence and severity, with over 55% of the world’s population
Pioneer 2008
at risk
Collaborations
• There are over 100 million cases of dengue fever each year and no available vaccines or • United States Department of Agriculture
specific medication (USDA)

• While elimination of breeding sites works, in practice it is difficult to reduce mosquito • Ministry of Health, Malaysia
populations below the level at which they can transmit disease
• Institut Pasteur

Oxitec’s technology will add a powerful tool to effectively reduce mosquito numbers and • International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA)
thereby control disease. Oxitec is developing its technology as a control tool for Aedes • Gates consortium led by the University of
aegypti with support from the Gates Foundation Grand Challenges for Global Health California, Irvine
Program. The technology is being evaluated by the Malaysian Ministry of Health and has
• Environmental Health Institute, Singapore
performed well in contained trials.
• International Institute of Biotechnology
Oxitec’s technology will also be used to combat insect pests that damage the quality and Toxicology, India
of food crops. It can be used as the cornerstone of integrated pest management for • Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology,
many species, facilitating reduced pesticide use. Oxitec is working with the United India
States Department of Agriculture programmes to improve their management of both
• University of Oxford
Mediterranean fruit fly and pink bollworm. Oxitec’s pink bollworm product has completed
two years of open field testing in the USA.
The Technology
Milestones:
Oxitec’s insects are sterile in the absence of a specific diet component, and can be used 2002: Company founded
as pest control agents. The sterile males will seek out wild females and mate with them. 2003: RIDL Technology platform
The females lay eggs which do not develop into adults, leading to a decline in the target established with prototype strains of
pest population. This is an improvement on the well-established Sterile Insect Technique Aedes (dengue fever) mosquitoes, pink
(SIT) which uses radiation to sterilise insects. SIT has been used around the world to bollworm and Mediterranean fruit fly
control the voracious Mediterranean fruit fly, a quarantine pest that causes huge economic 2003: Collaboration established with the
damage by preventing the trade of fruit. It is also being used to control the pink bollworm, USDA to work on cotton pest
a destructive cotton pest and has been used on a large scale to rid North and Central
2004: Move to purpose-built offices in
America of the flesh-eating maggot new world screwworm.
Milton Park, near Oxford

Oxitec’s technology provides the following benefits over conventional SIT: 2005: Contained field trials with pink
bollworm in Arizona
• Improved cost-effectiveness with fitter insects that have not been exposed to irradiation
2006: First open field releases of pink
• Improved biosafety bollworm in commercial cotton

• Improved programme monitoring and management with integrated markers Recent highlights
Feb 07: Oxitec announces new sex-
• It can be applied to many more species than traditional SIT, including mosquitoes specific pest control technology

Apr 07: USDA approval of larger scale

open field trials to control pink bollworm

Aug 2007: US and Malaysian approval for

contained evaluation of Oxitec’s dengue
fever control technology

Sep 2007: Transformation of the Asian

tiger mosquito

Oct 2007: Interim financing round of

£1.5 million completed

Nov 2007: Oxitec nominated Technology

Pioneer 2008 of the World Economic
Forum

Contact details
Oxitec Limited
71 Milton Park
Safety Oxford
OX14 4RX
Oxitec complies with all relevant national and international legislation, and supports public
England
initiatives to establish appropriate standards. Regulatory frameworks are being developed
around the world to permit the testing and commercialization of this new technology. info@oxitec.com

Insects bred by Oxitec are no different to native insect strains, apart from their inability to T: +44 (0)1235 832 393
reproduce, and are subject to stringent assessment for their potential impact on health F: +44 (0)1235 861 138
and the environment.

Last update: February 2008

Oxitec Limited info@oxitec.com

71 Milton Park
Oxford T: +44 (0)1235 832 393
OX14 4RX F: +44 (0)1235 861 138
England