Bio-Gene Technology (ASX: BGT) has been awarded $3 million in grants by the US Department of Defense to develop insecticide products to protect its workforce from threats posed by disease-carrying species including mosquitoes and ticks.
The grants have been provided under the government’s Deployed Warfighter Protection research program.
The program aims to identify and test a series of management tools to eliminate the transmission of serious diseases to military personnel.
The company will use the first grant of $1.6m over three years to develop a wearable product containing Bio-Gene’s patented Flavocide technology.
Flavocide targets agricultural insect pests and disease-spreading mosquitoes.
Bio-Gene will aim to integrate Flavocide with multi-use wearable controlled-release devices developed by US-based GearJump Technologies as a spatially active product against mosquitoes that potentially carry malaria or dengue and a range of other flying pests.
The company will apply the second grant of $1.4m over three years to develop a sprayable formulation of Bio-Gene’s plant-derived product Qcide, to provide residual control of flies and bed bug infestations.
The product will be used primarily for indoor surface treatment and can be easily adapted for field application to protect against other vectors such as ticks and mosquitoes.
Part of the funds received will be applied to research and development activities carried out by collaborating research organisations including the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research / Armed Forces Research Institute of Medical Sciences in Maryland and the Center for Medical, Agricultural and Veterinary Entomology in Florida.
Bio-Gene chief executive officer Tim Grogan said the grants would help advance its commercialisation in the military and civilian markets.
“These grants provide substantial validation for the potential of Flavocide and Qcide to provide new solutions in the fight against insect threats to US defense personnel in various locations around the world,” he said.
“In addition to military use, we see a very large commercial opportunity in the civilian market.”
Bio-Gene is developing Flavocide and Qcide as new insecticides derived from nature for use in public health, crop protection, grain storage and consumer applications.
Research shows more than 700,000 deaths occur worldwide each year from vector-borne diseases.
The market for products to eradicate bed bugs is projected to increase from US$2.3 billion in 2023 to US$4.9b by 2032.
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