1. Ethics advisory committee meeting Introductions and updates 7 & 8 June 2017

2. Introductions New member of the ethics committee
New members of the Target Malaria team

3. Updates on the project Global project achievement
Signature of a new 4 year grant for 17.5 million USD from the Open Philanthropy Project
Further developing training programmes,
Increasing outreach activities,
Researching potential ecological effects of releasing gene drives,
Developing project operational capacities and regulatory support.
Diversification of funding,
Initiation of activities in Ghana – not a target country but supporting activities taking place there

4. Updates on the project Scientific update
Great progress from the team at Imperial College on the final technologies:
On-going work to address resistance issues in the female fertility gene drive technology
On-going work to get a “Y-drive” technology, i.e. to get the sex- distorsion modification on the Y chromosome

5. Updates on the project
Project updates in Africa
Import in November 2016 of the first genetically modified mosquito – sterile male strain – in containment in Burkina Faso
Similar application for contained use of a sterile male mosquito strain is under review in Mali
Large increase of human capacity with recruitments of new engagement team members, communication officers in each country, a cross-country compliance officer and a project manager in Burkina Faso
Waiting for final approval from national authorities for new insectary building in Uganda
Multi-disciplinary effort to prepare for small scale releases of sterile male mosquitoes

6. Updates on the project
Stakeholder engagement update
Positive follow-up after the Convention of Biological Diversity – leveraging contacts and building a coalition
VCAG (vector control advisory group) of WHO to publish its opinion on the project – expected to be positive (coming soon)
Positive media coverage, increasing project exposure (to be managed)
Increased interest from EU regulators on gene drive – so far quite balanced positions from countries that have been engaged
Gene drive starts being mainstreamed in the malaria sector: mentions as a tool for elimination
Very good coverage from the Stat News article on engagement

7. Updates on the project Other achievements
New testing facility in Terni – Italy –
Aligned with ACL2 level
Will be accommodating increased capacity for large cages and future gene drive testing
Open day this week with stakeholders

8. Stakeholder engagement best practices
During last year’s ethics committee meeting, recommendation was to document and publish about engagement.
Paper to be submitted in June to American Journal of Tropical Medicine about Target Malaria’s co-development approach
Preparations for a white-paper workshop on engagement best practices
Co-organised by FNIH and McMaster University
Large audience expected from different innovative vector control projects and academic experts
Expected outcome: white paper that can be used as a reference, with hopefully donors’ endorsement

9. Pan-African engagement
Roundtable with African scientists on gene drive.
Issue of capacity on the continent
Issue of engagement and communication
Workshops organised by NEPAD with regulators (per sub-region)
First one last November with ECOWAS.
Two more this month with Eastern and Southern Africa
Positive response, good for awareness raising and for network building
Understanding within the ECOWAS regulators of the need to look for harmonization and coordination
Current outreach to WHO AFRO