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Source: http://www.israel21c.org/bin/en.jsp?...&enZone=Health
Israelis discover cure for bee colony collapse-associated virus [Breaking news]
By Rachel Neiman
September 22, 2008
Israeli-US company Beeologics is taking rapid measures to bring to market a proprietary anti-viral agent that promises to stop Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD), with full-scale trials commencing next month.
So far 60,000 hives are committed and Beeologics aims to have 100,000 hives enlisted in the trial which will run in several locations in the US from October to February. The season is critical, says Eyal Ben-Chanoch, CEO of Beeologics, because the bee keeping industry cycle works with the seasons. And significantly, the seasonal nature of a suspect virus, and when it strikes, holds one of the clues as to why it is the likely cause of CCD.
CCD is characterized by the mysterious and inexplicable loss of worker bees in managed honeybee colonies. And there is much at stake. "Today it's not about honey, but about pollination. Pollination services are the main business for beekeepers," says Ben-Chanoch, who notes that pollination using managed honeybees is a critical element in modern agriculture; more than 130 crops in the US require pollination, with an annual crop value of $15 billion. In the US, there are only about 1,500 commercial beekeepers (1000 hives and upwards), with 2.4 million hives serving the entire US in 2008.
Identifying the problem
"We're still at the stage where the jury is still out regarding the cause of CCD," says Nitzan Paldi, Chief Technology Officer of Beeologics. "Half the world is sure it has something to do with the Varroa bee mite, which was introduced from East Asia and has been around 20 years. Another group is sure that it's a pathogen called Nosema cerana, a single cell parasite. There are researchers who think it's a virus, whereas others believe that Varroa is the instrument that transfers the viruses from bee to bee. Some blame pesticides, and every beekeeper has his own pet theory. So far, there is no solution because no one has even come to an agreement as to what the problem is."
Adds Paldi, "If you look how the disease spreads, it's very reminiscent of flu. Flu also starts in the fall and hits hard in the winter, the same is true of this bee virus. It's very contagious like a flu. In our opinion, we have something that's interacting very strongly with the environment to cause CCD. It could be interacting with pesticides, with improper nutrition, general stress - but that's not what's killing the bees. What's killing them is a virus and we believe that virus is Israeli Acute Paralysis Virus (IAPV, named by Hebrew University of Jerusalem plant virologist Prof. Ilan Sela, who first identified it in 2004)."
Beeologics solution, now known commercially as Remebee, uses a mechanism called RNA interference (RNAi, also known as gene silencing) a mechanism that inhibits or hinders gene expression. "The technology is based on naturally occurring biological agents. Conceptually, we're introducing the factor that prompts the silencing response," says Paldi. "We didn't invent gene silencing, it's been around for eons, and discovering its broad applicability earned Andrew Fire and Craig C. Mello the Nobel Prize for Medicine in 2006. However, as far as we know we are the first to use it commercially on non-humans."
"We also solved a certain production problem in what is a very expensive process. So our breakthrough, aside from the technology itself, is in producing this agent in commercial quantities. This production process can be used in other fields as well."
According to the company, Remebee provides protection from IAPV. The technology is potentially applicable to all bee viruses. It precludes the possibility of virus breaking resistance, is non-toxic and leaves no residues in either honeybees or their honey.
Successful trials
Initial trials on 60 hives were conducted in Florida from March to June. The successful trials were designed, managed and monitored by the University of Florida, USDA-ARS and the Florida Department of Agriculture, Apiary Inspection Service.
Remebee is delivered to the colony via regular feeding processes. Laboratory and field trials demonstrated that feeding IAPV specific RNA prior to virus inoculation dramatically improved bee-to-brood ratio and honey yield compared with bees inoculated with IAPV only.
Beeologics has begun the regulatory approval process for Remebee in the US in conjunction with the Federal IR4 agency, which champions the introduction of bio-pesticides and their registration by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). Initially, the request for clinical trials was filed with the EPA, which subsequently decided that Remebee was a therapeutic drug, not a pesticide, and transferred the application to the FDA to grant a clinical trial permit for testing the applicability and prevention of Remebee on IAPV.
In addition, Beeologics has filed for patent protection (patent pending) for Remebee to include not only protection from IAPV, but also against all other bee viruses.
Beeologics has partnered with all major institutions working on the CCD problem, including the IR4-A; the US Department of Agriculture/Agricultural Research Services (USDA-ARS.); the State of Florida, Department of Agriculture, Apiary Inspection Services; the University of Florida, Department of Entomology; Penn State University, Department of Entomology; Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Faculty of Agriculture, and beekeepers from across the US including leading US beekeepers Dave Mendez and Dave Hackenberg, the man who alerted the media to CCD after losing 90 percent of his bees in 2006.
"Hackenberg gave us the hives and the bees for the trials in Pennsylvania as did Mendez in Florida," says Ben-Chanoch. "And we're talking about big money here. Because 100 full hives can bring in $80-100,000 in a season. So they invested from their own money to help us."
The company is also in the process of establishing European partnerships, following successful presentations this summer before the World Health Organization in Fribourg; the 41st Annual Meeting of the Society for Invertebrate Pathology at the University of Warwick, Coventry in August, and Eurobee 2008 in Belfast in early September.
Israelis discover cure for bee colony collapse-associated virus [Breaking news]
By Rachel Neiman
September 22, 2008
Israeli-US company Beeologics is taking rapid measures to bring to market a proprietary anti-viral agent that promises to stop Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD), with full-scale trials commencing next month.
So far 60,000 hives are committed and Beeologics aims to have 100,000 hives enlisted in the trial which will run in several locations in the US from October to February. The season is critical, says Eyal Ben-Chanoch, CEO of Beeologics, because the bee keeping industry cycle works with the seasons. And significantly, the seasonal nature of a suspect virus, and when it strikes, holds one of the clues as to why it is the likely cause of CCD.
CCD is characterized by the mysterious and inexplicable loss of worker bees in managed honeybee colonies. And there is much at stake. "Today it's not about honey, but about pollination. Pollination services are the main business for beekeepers," says Ben-Chanoch, who notes that pollination using managed honeybees is a critical element in modern agriculture; more than 130 crops in the US require pollination, with an annual crop value of $15 billion. In the US, there are only about 1,500 commercial beekeepers (1000 hives and upwards), with 2.4 million hives serving the entire US in 2008.
Identifying the problem
"We're still at the stage where the jury is still out regarding the cause of CCD," says Nitzan Paldi, Chief Technology Officer of Beeologics. "Half the world is sure it has something to do with the Varroa bee mite, which was introduced from East Asia and has been around 20 years. Another group is sure that it's a pathogen called Nosema cerana, a single cell parasite. There are researchers who think it's a virus, whereas others believe that Varroa is the instrument that transfers the viruses from bee to bee. Some blame pesticides, and every beekeeper has his own pet theory. So far, there is no solution because no one has even come to an agreement as to what the problem is."
Adds Paldi, "If you look how the disease spreads, it's very reminiscent of flu. Flu also starts in the fall and hits hard in the winter, the same is true of this bee virus. It's very contagious like a flu. In our opinion, we have something that's interacting very strongly with the environment to cause CCD. It could be interacting with pesticides, with improper nutrition, general stress - but that's not what's killing the bees. What's killing them is a virus and we believe that virus is Israeli Acute Paralysis Virus (IAPV, named by Hebrew University of Jerusalem plant virologist Prof. Ilan Sela, who first identified it in 2004)."
Beeologics solution, now known commercially as Remebee, uses a mechanism called RNA interference (RNAi, also known as gene silencing) a mechanism that inhibits or hinders gene expression. "The technology is based on naturally occurring biological agents. Conceptually, we're introducing the factor that prompts the silencing response," says Paldi. "We didn't invent gene silencing, it's been around for eons, and discovering its broad applicability earned Andrew Fire and Craig C. Mello the Nobel Prize for Medicine in 2006. However, as far as we know we are the first to use it commercially on non-humans."
"We also solved a certain production problem in what is a very expensive process. So our breakthrough, aside from the technology itself, is in producing this agent in commercial quantities. This production process can be used in other fields as well."
According to the company, Remebee provides protection from IAPV. The technology is potentially applicable to all bee viruses. It precludes the possibility of virus breaking resistance, is non-toxic and leaves no residues in either honeybees or their honey.
Successful trials
Initial trials on 60 hives were conducted in Florida from March to June. The successful trials were designed, managed and monitored by the University of Florida, USDA-ARS and the Florida Department of Agriculture, Apiary Inspection Service.
Remebee is delivered to the colony via regular feeding processes. Laboratory and field trials demonstrated that feeding IAPV specific RNA prior to virus inoculation dramatically improved bee-to-brood ratio and honey yield compared with bees inoculated with IAPV only.
Beeologics has begun the regulatory approval process for Remebee in the US in conjunction with the Federal IR4 agency, which champions the introduction of bio-pesticides and their registration by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). Initially, the request for clinical trials was filed with the EPA, which subsequently decided that Remebee was a therapeutic drug, not a pesticide, and transferred the application to the FDA to grant a clinical trial permit for testing the applicability and prevention of Remebee on IAPV.
In addition, Beeologics has filed for patent protection (patent pending) for Remebee to include not only protection from IAPV, but also against all other bee viruses.
Beeologics has partnered with all major institutions working on the CCD problem, including the IR4-A; the US Department of Agriculture/Agricultural Research Services (USDA-ARS.); the State of Florida, Department of Agriculture, Apiary Inspection Services; the University of Florida, Department of Entomology; Penn State University, Department of Entomology; Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Faculty of Agriculture, and beekeepers from across the US including leading US beekeepers Dave Mendez and Dave Hackenberg, the man who alerted the media to CCD after losing 90 percent of his bees in 2006.
"Hackenberg gave us the hives and the bees for the trials in Pennsylvania as did Mendez in Florida," says Ben-Chanoch. "And we're talking about big money here. Because 100 full hives can bring in $80-100,000 in a season. So they invested from their own money to help us."
The company is also in the process of establishing European partnerships, following successful presentations this summer before the World Health Organization in Fribourg; the 41st Annual Meeting of the Society for Invertebrate Pathology at the University of Warwick, Coventry in August, and Eurobee 2008 in Belfast in early September.
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