Oxitec Ltd, the leading developer of biological pest control solutions, today announced the launch of the next phase of the company's malaria vector program, enabled by US$18 million of funding from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. This new chapter in Oxitec's fight against malaria-spreading mosquitoes marks a transition from targeted FriendlyTM mosquito strain development in the lab to validation of the FriendlyTM solution in communities living under daily threat of this disease. Malaria kills more than half a million people each year across the world and, according to the World Health Organization, nearly half of the world's population is at risk.