Zika Fighter? New video shows how nootkatone attacks the Brazilian scourge
In Switzerland. Evolva has launched a short animated video that highlights the potential for the company’s nootkatone product in development to one day play a role in the fight against Lyme disease, as well as Zika, chikungunya, dengue and West Nile viruses. The video can be viewed on the Evolva website by clicking on this link. Among others, it shows the effect of nootkatone on ticks, observed during testing.
Evolva is currently performing all necessary safety and efficacy studies to get nootkatone approved by the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) initially as a repellent against the blacklegged tick, mosquitos and other target insects in the USA. Evolva is also investigating other geographies.
Evolva holds the exclusive worldwide rights to advance nootkatone for the control of disease vectors such as ticks, mosquitoes, fleas, flies, lice, bed bugs and other biting insects. In both laboratory and field studies, a variety of formulations of nootkatone have demonstrated excellent activity against biting and nuisance pests, notably the ticks that are responsible for spreading Lyme disease, but also mosquitoes, head lice, bed bugs, and other biting insects.
Nootkatone appears to have a mode of action distinct from that of currently used pesticides and therefore could potentially be valuable for mitigating pesticide resistance in mosquito vectors.
Nootkatone is not oily and has a citrus scent. It can be extracted in minute quantities from the skin of grapefruit or the bark of the Alaska yellow cedar (also known as the Nootka cypress). It can also be produced on an industrial scale from brewing via yeast fermentation. Evolva and the US Centers for Disease Control & Prevention (CDC) are partners in the co-development of insect control products containing nootkatone based on Evolva fermentation technology.
Category: Fuels
