FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
LIBERTYVILLE, Ill., April 14, 2022 – The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency recently granted Valent BioSciences LLC an Experimental Use Permit (EUP) to perform further field studies of VBC-60748, a new mosquito space spray targeting pyrethroid-resistant adult mosquitoes.
VBC-60748 is the first-ever mosquito adulticide that contains an active ingredient based on a soil bacterium. That active ingredient is manufactured through fermentation and the product would be the first new U.S. adulticide mode of action approved in 50 years.
Pyrethroid resistance is a worldwide public health threat that limits our ability to control disease-carrying adult mosquitoes. Resistant mosquitoes spread deadly and debilitating diseases such as malaria, West Nile virus, dengue, yellow fever, zika and others.
Disease-vectoring mosquitoes have developed mechanisms that shield them from the insecticidal activity of pyrethroids, one of the most important classes of insecticides for mosquito abatement. Valent BioSciences’ novel adulticide combines three active ingredients and three modes of action to achieve a high level of mortality against these resistant populations across multiple species, as well as against pyrethroid-susceptible mosquitoes.
“We launched this project to bring the global vector control community something very specific,” said Jason Clark, Valent BioSciences’ Global Business Manager. “To make it happen, we would need multiple active ingredients to target multiple sites within the mosquito, and they all would all have to ‘play nice’ in one formulation. We believe that we have succeeded and are now focused on the proper regulatory procedures to confirm so.”
The EUP will allow Valent BioSciences to further study the effectiveness of this breakthrough adulticide in various field trials throughout the U.S.
To learn more about mosquito resistance worldwide and the product development history of VBC-60748, please visit www.publichealthlandscape.com.
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About Valent BioSciences LLC
Headquartered in Libertyville, Illinois, Valent BioSciences is a subsidiary of Tokyo-based Sumitomo Chemical Co., Ltd., and is the worldwide leader in the development, manufacturing, and commercialization of biorational products with sales in 95 countries around the world. Valent BioSciences is an ISO 9001 Certified Company. For additional information, visit the company’s website at www.valentbiosciences.com.
Media Contact:
Jason Clark | Global Business Manager
Public Health and Forest Health Business
Valent BioSciences LLC
630-730-4200
jason.clark@valentbiosciences.com