Target Malaria: Editing Mosquitoes through Gene Drives

Target Malaria, a non-profit research consortium, is exploring the application of CRISPR-Cas9 gene editing technology to combat malaria in Sub-Saharan Africa. Its approach uses gene drives, a revolutionary tool, to suppress the population of malaria-carrying mosquitoes. Although gene drives are 5-10 years from being tested in the wild, Target Malaria’s strategy of staged implementation has been driven by a thoughtful, highly regulated, and long pathway.
The case describes the complexity and technical intricacies of gene drive technology, the stakeholder and community engagement process, ecological and ethical risks with releasing genetically modified organisms into the wild, and the regulatory structure. Since a gene drive has the potential to alter not just a single organism but an entire species, the case raises critical questions central to the deployment of transformative technologies in public health: How can the global community govern technologies when their effects transcend national borders? What are the potential long-term ecological impacts, and how can they be mitigated? How do you balance risks and benefits of a technology like gene drives, given that malaria kills hundreds of thousands of people (mostly children) every year?