Authors

G McFadden¹; ML Wilde¹; CD Goodman¹;  ¹ Uni of Melbourne, Australia

Discussion

Malaria is on the rise. Existing tools are failing to control disease. Gene drives offer the capacity to repress, perhaps even eradicate, problem organisms like the parasite that causes malaria1. But do gene drives work, and are they safe?

We are building and testing a variety of gene drives in Plasmodium spp. Our gene drives aim to reverse drug resistance, ameliorate malaria-in-pregnancy, prevent spillover of P. knowlesi into humans, restore the efficacy of rapid diagnostic tests (RDTs), and collapse falciparum malaria transmission.

Deploying gene drive parasites entails considerable safety, ethical, social, and compliance considerations. We have been funded for in-human safety and efficacy trials of a homing, sex biasing falciparum gene drive. Exploration of ethics, economics, social licence, and regulatory frameworks for a field trial of our gene drive in a malaria endemic region are also built into the project. Our team thus has the first chance to assess the utility and acceptability of a new malaria control tool. I will present our progress-to-date in building and testing malaria parasite gene drives. I will also weigh the pros and cons of these powerful and innovative tools.

1. Wilde, M-L et al. (2025) Novel techniques for disrupting malaria transmission. Trends in Parasitology 41: 657-9