Envu, Bio-Gene Evaluate Flavocide for Public, Private Sector Mosquito Management

Melbourne, Australia and Cary, N.C – Bio-Gene Technology Limited, an Australian company developing novel bio-insecticides, and Envu are evaluating Flavocide for use in professional pest management and public health products to control mosquitoes. 

Envu develops solutions to manage insects, weeds and turf diseases that threaten public health and environments. As a nature-identical compound, Flavocide complements the company’s professional pest and mosquito management product portfolios. 

Flavocide is a nature-identical product based on Flavesone, a naturally occurring plant compound present in some eucalypts. Bio-Gene has developed a proprietary process to synthesize the molecule and produce it in commercial quantities.

This collaboration combines Bio-Gene’s discovery and development pipeline with the formulation expertise of Envu to maximize efficacy and application efficiency. Bio-Gene and Envu have successfully evaluated several formulations of Flavocide to target mosquitoes and will continue to evaluate Flavocide for a range of professional use products to control these public health pests. 

Tim Grogan, managing director & chief executive officer for Bio-Gene said," Our work with Envu extends the potential for Flavocide to be used in major professional pest management and public health target markets worldwide for the control of mosquitoes. Envu is a world leader in the commercial development and marketing of new and sustainable products to combat mosquitoes. This important program supports our strategy of engaging with a range of strong partners to fully exploit the opportunities available for our technologies.” 

Bernard Jacqmin, senior vice president, head of global innovation for Envu said, "We are pleased to be working with Bio-Gene and to formulate and evaluate Flavocide for use in mosquito management applications. Flavocide is derived from nature and, based on our testing completed to date, has demonstrated a favorable profile to combat mosquitoes. Our combined efforts are already showing promising results in the testing phase, and we are excited about the potential benefits for consumers and professionals in the field." 

Flavocide exhibits a new mode of action – that is, the way an insecticide controls or knocks down an insect - and is able to overcome insect resistance to current insecticidal products. Mosquito strains can become particularly resistant to existing products, making it challenging to manage the spread of serious diseases such as Malaria, Dengue fever and Zika virus. Insecticides with new modes of action are rare and are essential to ensure future global food security and public health. 

Bio-Gene is developing Flavocide to address the major worldwide problem of insecticide resistance in the areas of public health, crop protection, grain storage and consumer applications. 

At this time, Bio-Gene and Envu are exploring opportunities for Envu to use Flavocide in commercial product(s). Any future development or licensing agreements will be jointly announced by Bio-Gene and Envu.