CPU

Business and information technology

College
Department Of Business Management
Entrepreneurship Group Assignment -1

Group Name..................................................... ID/no

1, ALEMU BOGALE……………………………..DEBM/942/11
2,FUAD YASIN…………………………………..DEBM//
3,ESUBALEW TEBJE…………………………...DEBM//
4,ABERHAME TIGAYE……………………….DEBM//

pg. 1
INTRODUCTION

Probably any vaccine that people try to develop against Zika will be a recombinant vaccine as
indeed the leading candidate dengue vaccines are. In other words, genetically engineered virus
vaccines will be one application of biotechnology. If we restrict ourselves to insects specifically,
then there are a number of ways that we can use insect genetic engineering or synthetic biology to
tackle the spread of infectious diseases. The two main strategies that have emerged are:

Firstly using modified insects to try to reduce the number of pest insects in a population, so
populations suppression, which really is the same goal as people have attempted to achieve by
environmental management e.g. insecticide spraying. This is the same kind of thing, to have fewer
mosquitoes so there are less insects biting and less transmission. But genetic methods have the
possibility of being much more specific and targeted and environmentally friendly. The delivery
agent in all these things is a modified mosquito which you will release and it will do two things.
First of all, it will look for the wild females for you if you release modified males in a way that a
chemical insecticide won’t do.  And then you will also have the specificity that the males will only
mate with females of the same species, and not affect other mosquito species let alone butterflies
and all the other benign and harmless insects that are around in the environment. Again it is hard to
get that exquisite species specificity from a chemical insecticide, or indeed any other control
method. Now if you were in a situation where the disease was being transmitted by a large number
of vector species or more generally if you were a farmer whose crop was being eaten by a whole
host of pest species, you might prefer something more broader spectrum than a dozen or so species
specific interventions. So this species specific intervention, which I think is very good from an
environmental point of view is a feature of this type of approach, so it will make it more attractive
in some settings and less relevant in others. In malaria, of course the transmission is more
complicated and so there are more species involved – or at least different species in different areas
– than dengue, chikungunya, Zika, which are all primarily transmitted by one species of mosquito,
Aedes aegypti and in some cases with involvement to an unknown extent by other species such as
Aedes albopictus. And so population suppression is one strategy and it has a familiar outcome.

 Did You Know

o Only female mosquitoes bite. They need a blood meal to produce eggs.
o Male mosquitoes do not bite. They feed on nectar from flowers.

GM mosquitoes are mass-produced in a laboratory to carry two types of genes:

o A self-limiting gene that prevents female mosquito offspring from surviving to

adulthood.
o A fluorescent marker gene that glows under a special red light. This allows
researchers to identify GM mosquitoes in the wild.
 GM mosquitoes produced in the laboratory lay eggs. These eggs carry the self-limiting and
fluorescent marker genes.
 GM mosquito eggs that carry the self-limiting gene are released into an area. Once they have
hatched and develop through to the adult stage, they are available to mate with wild
females. The genes are passed on to offspring.

The female offspring die before they become adults. The expected result is that the number of Ae.
aegypti mosquitoes in the area decreases.

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2 INFORMATION SUMMARU
Oxitec, a British biotech company founded by Dr. Luke Alphey, develops innovative approaches for
insect-borne dis eases and pests plaguing developing countries. . The company claims that this new
approach is a highly targeted form of biological control that is safe to other species, causes no
lasting impact on the environment, and is cost-effective. In 2010, Oxitec released 3 million
genetically altered mosquitos into the Cayman Islands, resulting in a reported 80 percent reduction
in the incidence of dengue fever The Florida Keys Environmental Coalition wrote to Florida
Governor Rick Scott, asking him to stop Oxitec, pointing out that “. . . biting female mosquitoes could
inject an engineered protein into humans along with other proteins from the mosquitos’ salivary
gland. Oxitec has yet to conduct or publish any study showing that this protein is not expressed in
the salivary gland and therefore cannot be passed on to humans
. Advocates of the plan pointed to the research conducted by Oxitec that has been published in peer-
reviewed scientific journals, which highlights the problems associated with traditional spraying
with insecticides. The use of the altered mosquitos cannot move ahead until the FDA gives its
formal approval. Local residents also are concerned about the ecological impact of Oxitec’s
approach to insect control. They argue that officials should take a wait-and-see approach by
observing the ecological impact of the treatment used in the Cayman Islands
3) THE MAJOR PROBLEM THAAT ORGANIZATION /EMPOLOUEES MANAGERS ARE FACEING
Oxitec developed a new approach to tackling the mosquito-borne disease dengue fever. There are
50 million to 100 million cases of dengue fever every year, with a death rate of about 2.5 percent.
There is no treatment or vaccine for dengue fever; patients are treated for their symptoms and the
disease must run its course. Many pests are becoming resistant to insecticides, and concerns are
growing over the long-term environmental and health impact of consistent use of insecticides.
Using advanced genetics, Oxitec breeds and releases “sterile” male mosquitos of the disease-
carrying species. The company claims that this new approach is a highly targeted form of biological
control that is safe to other species, causes no lasting impact on the environment, and is cost-
effective. In 2010, Oxitec released 3 million genetically altered mosquitos into the Cayman Islands,
resulting in a reported 80 percent reduction in the incidence of dengue fever. In 2009 the Florida
Keys suffered an outbreak of dengue fever. Although no one died from the outbreak, 93 people
became ill in Key West. To avoid future outbreaks, the Florida Keys Mosquito Control District
decided to contract with Oxitec to release its genetically altered mosquitos in the Florida Keys. Key
West would be only the fourth location worldwide to use this approach to control the local
mosquito population. Some critics raised concerns about releasing genetically altered mosquitos
into the environment. Others questioned the ecological impact of removing insects from an
ecosystem. These critics argued that no one knows the impact on animals that feed on these
mosquitos and cannot know what other organisms may move in to fill the ecological void once the
mosquitos are gone. The Florida Keys Environmental Coalition wrote to Florida Governor Rick
Scott, asking him to stop Oxitec, pointing out that “. . . biting female mosquitoes could inject an
engineered protein into humans along with other proteins from the mosquitos’ salivary gland.
Oxitec has yet to conduct or publish any study showing that this protein is not expressed in the
salivary gland and therefore cannot be passed on to humans

In the United States, the use of GM mosquitoes is regulated by the EPA. Prior to release of GM
mosquitoes into an area, some of these systems we predict to spread through entire species and
possibly also drive them to extinction. Is that a desirable outcome? Well, you can argue either way.
On the one hand, you can say that humans have inadvertently driven many species to extinction yet

pg. 3
we have only deliberately eliminated two species – smallpox virus and the rinderpest virus, and to
go from there to mosquitoes is quite a big step.

On the other hand, you can say mosquitoes are a major pest species, a very human adapted species
– so an external parasite essentially – and it is hard to see that it has a significant role in the
ecosystem, such that would we miss it if the species had completely gone. Some people can say that
about mosquitoes in general, but that would be further than I would certainly be comfortable to go.
But there are three and a half thousand named species of mosquitoes and we are only talking about
one specific one, and nowhere are they the only species of mosquitoes in the area, even if you felt
that there were things specifically dependent on mosquitoes. Though there are many mosquito-
eating generalists, there aren’t many specialists that depend on them
4) DETERMINANTS OF MAJOR CAUSES OF THE OROBLEMS

The strategy, which is perhaps less familiar, is so called population replacement, which is
essentially trying to spread genes into the wild population using technology that would make
mosquitoes less harmful without actually killing them, so make them less able to transmit a
particular pathogen. The closest analogy would be like ‘vaccinating’ the whole mosquito population
in some ways, because the mosquitoes will still be there, and they will be biting people, but will no
longer be able to transmit the disease. There are many number of reasons why vaccinating the
whole population of mosquitoes won’t work, but it has been done with rabies by trying to vaccinate
wild dogs, badgers etc. with a live engineered rabies vaccine. So this is the closest analogy we have
to illustrate the concept. The way we actually go about doing this is making a strain in the lab, and
genetically modifying it so it won’t transmit the disease and release these mosquitoes into the wild
population.

For population suppression, the gene we are trying to release will have some huge fitness cost
associated with it. So the mosquito will mate with one insect and then it will disappear, so it is a
self- limiting method and these are attractive in terms of controllability because the modification
will disappear quite quickly unless you maintain it. On the other hand it won’t persist in the
environment, which is good from that point of view, but from an applied point of view you might
want them to hang around longer. Now in the case of these refractory genes, the genes that are not
going to kill the insect but are going to stop the disease being transmitted, you really need most of
the mosquitoes to be carrying them
5) TO ADDRISING QUESTIONS

1. Is it ethical for a company to expose people to products that have not been definitively
proven to be safe? Explain.

Aedes aegypti mosquitoes spread viruses including dengue, Zika, and chikungunya. Aedes
mosquitoes are common throughout many areas of the United States.

Ae. aegypti mosquitoes can be genetically modified and used to control other Ae.

aegypti mosquitoes in a community. In the United States, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
(EPA) has authorized use of OX5034 GM Ae. aegypti mosquitoes for release in counties in Florida
and Texas. This EPA authorization allows local mosquito control programs to evaluate how
effective GM mosquitoes are in reducing Ae. aegypti mosquitoes in areas where they have been
released.

pg. 4
2. Is it ethical for community leaders to put citizens at risk for a deadly disease, such as
dengue fever, when there is a proven approach to reducing the impact of the disease?
Explain.

The EPA evaluated the potential risk of releasing GM mosquitoes into communities and determined
that there is no risk to people, animals, or the environment.

 GM mosquitoes have been successfully used in parts of Brazil, the Cayman Islands, Panama,
and India to control Ae. aegypti mosquitoes. Since 2019, over 1 billion mosquitoes have
been released.
 When GM mosquitoes stop being released into an area, the Ae. aegypti mosquito population
will slowly return to “normal levels.”
 GM mosquitoes will only work to reduce numbers of target mosquito species (e.g., Ae.
aegypti), not other types of mosquitoes. Most communities have more than one type of
mosquito.

3. How should companies test the safety of products before they are introduced? Explain.

Release of GM mosquitoes is not intended to stop an ongoing disease outbreak. Instead, GM

mosquitoes are meant to help prevent disease outbreaks. Releasing GM mosquitoes over several
months can reduce the number of a specific mosquito species, such as Ae. aegypti. Reducing
numbers of mosquitoes that can spread germs can help reduce the chance of an outbreak starting.
We do know that the best way to prevent disease is to control mosquitoes before an outbreak
happens.

4. Create a detailed diagram of all of the stakeholders of Oxitec. How is each of the
stakeholders affected by Oxitec’s actions? Explain. What conclusions can you draw from
this analysis?
Mosquitoes to the rescue

How di modified mosquito trails work

Oxitec
The offspring of genetically modified make mosquitoes die
without access to an antibiotics
Mosquitoes mate

Lab-bred male mosquitoes are infected with specific Walachia bacterium so that fertilized eggs di
not hatch

pg. 5
 5. Describe the business model of Oxitec using the Business Model Canvas. What
recommendations might you make for the company’s business model going forward?

My hope is that the Zika virus is going to give the final push for the policymakers to say that this is
it, we need to get rid of this mosquito, in the face of a public health emergency declared by the WHO
in terms of Zika virus. The virus might potentially affect Brazil economically and so it might be such
a situation where they say this is it.

Yes, I think that’s right. The policymakers are in a difficult position in these circumstances and if we
could bring forward new, more environmentally friendly and more effective methods of mosquito
control for the benefit of controlling not only Zika but chikungunya, dengue and other diseases, that
would be some sort of silver linking in the very large problem that is Zika
6) CONCLUTION

More generally in new emerging diseases, like Zika, the drugs and vaccines are absolutely starting
from scratch since there hasn’t been any work on them before. In terms of mosquito control,
because it is transmitted by the same mosquito that spreads dengue and Chikungunya, you can
control all these diseases by controlling the mosquito, which Oxitec technology aims to do.

Overall, it is highly unlikely that they will be able to make a transgene that will have a net benefit to
the mosquito simply by making them resistant to dengue. That means it is likely that the cost
associated with other modifications almost certainly will have a net fitness cost and so tend to
disappear from the wild population, which is rather opposite of what you want if you want it to
hang around at high frequency – and maybe increase in frequency – in the wild population. Now of
course, if you were actually vaccinating mosquitoes, that would not hang around and you will have
to go around doing it each time e.g. like when you vaccinate people, and you have to keep on
vaccinating new babies each year etc. The idea that you have to keep on doing this entirely
consistent with what you do at the moment e.g. with Sterile Insect Release. Now there is a
possibility that we might be able to get away from that and have something that will propagate
itself.

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