Repurposing isoxazoline veterinary drugs for control of

vector-borne human diseases

Marie Miglianicoa, Maarten Elderinga, Hannah Slaterb, Neil Fergusonb, Pauline Ambrosec, Rosemary S. Leesc,
Karin M. J. Koolena, Katerina Pruzinovad, Magdalena Jancarovad, Petr Volfd, Constantianus J. M. Koenraadte,
Hans-Peter Duerrf, Graham Trevittg, Baiyuan Yangh, Arnab K. Chatterjeeh, John Wislerh, Angelika Sturma,
Teun Bousemai, Robert W. Sauerweina,i, Peter G. Schultzh,1, Matthew S. Tremblayh,1, and Koen J. Decheringa,1
a
TropIQ Health Sciences, 6534 Nijmegen, The Netherlands; bMRC Centre for Outbreak Analysis and Modelling, Department of Infectious Disease
Epidemiology, Imperial College London, London SW7 2AZ, United Kingdom; cThe Liverpool Insect Testing Establishment, Liverpool School of Tropical
Medicine, Liverpool L3 5QA, United Kingdom; dDepartment of Parasitology, Faculty of Science, Charles University, 116 36 Prague, Czech Republic;
e
Laboratory of Entomology, Wageningen University and Research, 6700 Wageningen, The Netherlands; fNumerus Ltd., RG40 2AY Tübingen, Germany;
g
XenoGesis Ltd., Nottingham NG1 1GF, United Kingdom; hCalifornia Institute for Biomedical Research, La Jolla, CA 92037; and iDepartment of Medical
Microbiology, Radboud University Medical Center, 6525 Nijmegen, The Netherlands

Contributed by Peter G. Schultz, June 4, 2018 (sent for review January 31, 2018; reviewed by Michael H. Gelb and Timothy Wells)

Isoxazolines are oral insecticidal drugs currently licensed for ministration (12, 13). Even though these compounds have neu-
ectoparasite control in companion animals. Here we propose their ronal targets (Fig. 1A), they have been generally shown to be safe
use in humans for the reduction of vector-borne disease incidence. in mammals, as they show limited brain penetration (14) and
Fluralaner and afoxolaner rapidly killed Anopheles, Aedes, and significant selectivity for insect over mammalian receptors (12,
Culex mosquitoes and Phlebotomus sand flies after feeding on a 15). Herein we evaluate two representatives of this compound
drug-supplemented blood meal, with IC50 values ranging from class in multiple disease-carrying vector species and support the
33 to 575 nM, and were fully active against strains with preexist- case for their potential use as human oral vector-control drugs.
ing resistance to common insecticides. Based on allometric scaling
of preclinical pharmacokinetics data, we predict that a single hu- Results and Discussion
man median dose of 260 mg (IQR, 177–407 mg) for afoxolaner, or Insecticidal Activity of Fluralaner and Afoxolaner. The isoxazolines
410 mg (IQR, 278–648 mg) for fluralaner, could provide an insecti- afoxolaner and fluralaner (Fig. 1B) were tested on various strains
cidal effect lasting 50–90 days against mosquitoes and Phleboto- of Anopheles, Aedes aegypti, and Culex pipiens, which are im-
mus sand flies. Computational modeling showed that seasonal
portant vectors for malaria, Zika/dengue, and West Nile virus,
mass drug administration of such a single dose to a fraction of a
respectively. Mosquitoes were fed on drug-supplemented human
regional population would dramatically reduce clinical cases of
blood by membrane feeding. At 24 h after the blood meal,
Zika and malaria in endemic settings. Isoxazolines therefore rep-
resent a promising new component of drug-based vector control.
fluralaner showed IC50 values in the range of 33–92 nM against
all mosquito strains tested, whereas afoxolaner was slightly less
active, with IC50 values ranging from 90 to 177 nM (Fig. 1C and
vector control | insecticide | malaria | zika fever | isoxazoline Table 1). Isoxazolines occupy a binding site that is distinct from
the targets of known modulators of ionotropic GABA receptors
V ector-borne diseases, including malaria, Zika fever, and
leishmaniasis, remain major causes of mortality and mor-
bidity in (sub)tropical regions (1, 2). Temperate areas are also at Significance
risk for such diseases, for instance, due to the reintroduction of
West Nile Virus in Europe (3). Elimination of these diseases will Reduction in clinical cases of vector-borne diseases is strongly
require not only clinical development of new drugs and vaccines, dependent on the ability to reduce the number of infectious
but also effective control of vector populations (4, 5). Drug- insect bites. Here we describe a treatment concept based on
based vector control is a new strategy that involves administra- single-dose administration of an insecticidal isoxazoline drug
tion of an oral insecticidal drug to a human population at risk to to a human population, which leads to killing of blood-fed in-
kill the insect vector on blood feeding, thereby reducing the sect vectors and a predicted sharp decline in disease trans-
vector population and preventing disease transmission (6). This mission. Based on the long half-life observed in preclinical
approach has the advantage of being effective against mosquito species, a single human dose of <500 mg is predicted to pro-
populations feeding outdoors, which are increasingly important vide plasma exposure above the insecticidal threshold for
for malaria transmission (7) and escape the killing effects of longer than 2 months. Importantly, we show that isoxazolines
traditional vector control methods such as insecticide-treated are active against a range of vector species, which holds
bed nets and indoor residual spraying. In contrast to approaches promise for expanding the concept of drug-based vector con-
targeting livestock, administering an insecticidal drug to a human trol from malaria to leishmaniasis and arboviral diseases.
population would directly prevent onward transmission of hu-
Author contributions: M.M., H.S., N.F., P.V., A.K.C., J.W., A.S., R.W.S., P.G.S., M.S.T., and
man vector-borne pathogens and reduce the population size of K.J.D. designed research; M.M., M.E., N.F., P.A., R.S.L., K.M.J.K., K.P., M.J., P.V., C.J.M.K.,
fully anthropophilic mosquitoes and sand flies, which play major and A.S. performed research; B.Y. contributed new reagents/analytic tools; M.M., M.E.,
roles in the transmission of malaria in Africa and of visceral H.S., N.F., R.S.L., H.-P.D., G.T., A.K.C., J.W., A.S., and K.J.D. analyzed data; and M.M., H.S.,
leishmaniasis in India, respectively (8). An oral insecticidal drug N.F., A.K.C., J.W., T.B., R.W.S., M.S.T., and K.J.D. wrote the paper.
should preferentially have a long-lasting effect at a single dose to Reviewers: M.H.G., University of Washington; and T.W., Medicines for Malaria Venture.
minimize logistical challenges and cost of mass drug adminis- Conflict of interest statement: K.J.D. and R.W.S. hold stock in TropIQ Health Sciences.
tration (9), have a very broad safety window, and show activity Published under the PNAS license.
against a wide range of disease vector species. 1
To whom correspondence may be addressed. Email: [email protected], mtremblay@
Isoxazolines are a class of compounds recently licensed as calibr.org, or [email protected].
veterinary drugs for protection of companion animals against This article contains supporting information online at www.pnas.org/lookup/suppl/doi:10.
fleas and ticks (10, 11), with very long in vivo half-lives that 1073/pnas.1801338115/-/DCSupplemental.
provide weeks to months of protection after a single oral ad- Published online July 2, 2018.

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 PNAS PLUS
Fig. 1. Insecticidal activity of fluralaner and afoxolaner on vectors. (A) Cartoon of the binding pockets of insecticides on the GABA or the glutamate-gated
chloride channel (16, 17). The putative binding sites of ivermectin, isoxazolines, and dieldrin are depicted on a subunit of the pentameric structure of the channel,
in purple, orange, and red, respectively. (B) Chemical structures of fluralaner and afoxolaner. (C) Survival (expressed as percentage of engorged individuals) of
Anopheles, A. aegypti, and C. pipiens mosquitoes and P. argentipes and L. longipalpis sand flies at 24 h after feeding on fluralaner- (Left) and afoxolaner- (Right)
supplemented blood meals. The species or strain is indicated in the legend of each graph with the known resistance mutation(s) in superscript. Error bars for the

PHARMACOLOGY
Anopheles and Aedes data indicate SEs based on duplicate experiments with approximately 30 mosquitoes each; on the Culex data, they indicate SEs based on
four replicate experiments with approximately 15 mosquitoes each; on the Phlebotomus data, they indicate SEs based on duplicate experiments with 100 flies
each. Data points of the Lutzomyia data indicate results of a single experiment with 100 flies per concentration and per compound.

(Fig. 1A) (16, 17). In line with this notion, fluralaner and afoxolaner Using published dog pharmacokinetic parameters (SI Appendix,
were fully active against the Anopheles gambiae Tiassalé 13 strain Table S2) (12, 18), we performed allometric scaling to predict
that carries the resistance-to-dieldrin (rdl) mutation in the GABA human plasma exposure following oral dosing. Obviously, plasma
receptor (Fig. 1C and SI Appendix, Table S1). In addition, they were concentrations after dosing of an eventual drug product will vary
equipotent against pyrethroid- and carbamate-resistant strains car- among human subjects due to variations in absorption rates,
rying mutations in the kdr sodium channel and acetylcholine es- genotypes and expression of CYP450 drug metabolizing en-
terase (ace-1) genes (Fig. 1C and SI Appendix, Table S1). zymes, etc. The exact distribution of human pharmacokinetic
The compounds were further tested by membrane feeding of parameters will not be known until human population pharma-
sand flies, which are important vectors of Leishmania. Afox- cokinetics data become available. However, to estimate vari-
olaner and fluralaner showed IC50 values of 305 and 575 nM, ability, a stochastic simulation approach was adopted using a
respectively, against Phlebotomus argentipes (Fig. 1C and Table fixed coefficient of variation (CV) of 20% with a log-normal
1), a vector of Leishmania donovani on the Indian subcontinent distribution for each parameter used in the single compart-
(2). Both compounds were less active against the South Ameri- ment model, i.e., clearance (Cl), volume of distribution (V),
can vector, Lutzomyia longipalpis, with IC50 values of 1–3 μM absorption rate (Ka) and bioavailability (F). This variation is in
(Fig. 1C and Table 1). The difference in isoxazoline activity seen line with data reported for the dog studies, where CV values
between sand flies and mosquitoes suggests that the targeted ranged from 14 to 24% (12, 18). Using this approach, we pre-
pocket in the GABA receptor is not conserved among insects. dicted the human dose resulting in circulating drug concentra-
tions above the mosquitocidal IC99 of Anopheles and Aedes for
Human Dose Prediction. Neither fluralaner nor afoxolaner was 90 d (SI Appendix, Fig. S1). The results indicate an estimated
measurably metabolized when incubated with dog or human single total human median dose level of 260 mg (IQR, 177–
hepatocytes, suggesting that the low in vivo intrinsic clearance 407 mg) of afoxolaner or 410 mg (IQR, 278–648 mg) of flur-
observed in dogs (12, 13) could be similar in humans (Table 2). alaner. For Culex, this dose would lead to circulating drug levels
Both compounds were highly bound to plasma proteins (Table above IC99 for 74 d. As sand flies appeared less sensitive to the
2), which could further contribute to a long in vivo half-life. compounds (Table 1), a 410-mg dose of fluralaner would not

Miglianico et al. PNAS | vol. 115 | no. 29 | E6921

Table 1. Insecticidal activity of fluralaner and afoxolaner scenario without treatment. The data presented in Fig. 2A show
against disease vectors that in the absence of an intervention, 15% of the population
Fluralaner Afoxolaner would be affected by the epidemic, whereas an epidemic delayed
by a 2-y isoxazoline intervention would affect 18% of the pop-
Vector IC50, nM 95% CI IC50, nM 95% CI ulation. The overshoot in the number of cases after intervention
is explained by a reduction in herd immunity (due to deaths of
Anopheles stephensi 56.0 [55–57] 106.8 [102–118]
immune individuals) and an increase in the susceptible pop-
Anopheles gambiae 33.3 [33–34] 101.4 [100–103]
ulation (due to births) during the years of intervention.
Kisumu
The time scale and magnitude of the modeled epidemic are
Anopheles gambiae 33.2 [32–34] 100.7 [99–102]
consistent with past incidence data for Zika, most notably from
Tiassalé
multiple Latin American countries in 2015–2017 (20, 21). Thus,
Aedes aegypti New 34.2 [33–35] 100.0 [93–107]
mass drug administration of a mosquitocidal drug is very efficient
Orleans
in delaying Zika transmission in populations but needs to be
Aedes aegypti Cayman 35.8 [34–37] 90.2 [87–94]
maintained to sustainably prevent outbreaks. This risk of disease
Culex pipiens 92.5 [89–96] 177.5 [175–180]
rebound is well known from mass drug administration programs
Phlebotomus argentipes 575.4 [503–658] 305.5 ND
(22, 23), and the duration and coverage of any such campaigns
Lutzomyia longipalpis 1,183.0 [971–1,439] 3,051.0 [2,455–3,792]
must be carefully chosen to optimize the risk-benefit ratio.
Listed are IC50 values (with 95% CIs in brackets) determined from the
curves shown in Fig. 1C that represent 24-h survival of mosquito and sand Modeled Impact on Malaria Incidence. Naturally acquired immunity
fly strains in the presence of increasing concentrations of fluralaner or afox- to malaria is mainly nonsterilizing but reduces the severity of in-
olaner. ND, not determined. fections, and any infectious mosquito bite could potentially cause a
new infection. Therefore, a transient intervention, such as afox-
olaner/fluralaner administration, would result in a temporary re-
yield sufficient plasma exposure for a sand fly killing effect, duction in malaria incidence and a large reduction in cumulative
whereas a 260-mg dose of afoxolaner would yield plasma con- incidence over a specified period. For example, in a transmission
centrations above the Phlebotomus IC99 for 50 d. setting with 17% malaria parasite prevalence by microscopy and a
Since the dose levels described above are reasonable amounts short transmission season (approximately 5–6 mo), 80% coverage
to be formulated and delivered in a single-dose mass drug ad- of the population with the drug would result in a 75% reduction in
ministration, we used the associated 90-d period of efficacy in malaria cases in the intervention year (Fig. 2B). Under the same
Aedes and Anopheles mosquitoes to model the potential effect on conditions, 66% reduction in cases is achieved with a population
two mosquito-borne diseases. coverage of only 30% (Fig. 2B). Despite a slight rebound in
clinical incidence after cessation of treatment, the total relative
Modeled Impact on Zika Fever Incidence. Zika is an immunizing reduction in numbers of cases over a period of 4 y (with in-
infection, meaning that once an individual has been infected, he tervention in the first 2 y) is 28% and 33% for scenarios with 30%
or she is no longer susceptible to new infections. We modeled and 80% population coverage, respectively, compared with a
the effect of an intervention in a population with historical ex- scenario with 0% coverage (no intervention). The potential impact
posure to Zika at a moment in time when herd immunity had of an isooxazoline-based intervention seems much greater than
declined to a degree that permits a new epidemic (19). Two the predicted impact of mosquitocidal doses of ivermectin, which
scenarios in which different proportions of the human pop- is in line with the notion that the duration of the mosquitocidal
ulation over age 5 years would be treated were explored. A 30% effect is one of the main drivers of clinical efficacy (24).
coverage scenario assumes that women of childbearing potential To further study the impact of prevalence and seasonality, we
are excluded from treatment, because of the absence of human estimated the reduction in clinical malaria cases for the malaria
teratogenicity data on initial entry of an isoxazoline drug on the endemic areas of sub-Saharan Africa based on previously used
market. A second 80% coverage scenario implies that sufficient parameterization of malaria transmission heterogeneity (25) (SI
data have been gathered to also treat women who are potentially Appendix, Fig. S2). This model is based on data from 2015 and
pregnant. The results show little difference between the two does not take into account the results of continuing efforts in
scenarios and indicate that administration of an isoxazoline drug malaria control and prevention that may have changed the
once yearly is predicted to prevent >97% of all clinical cases malaria landscape at the time when an isoxazoline drug will
during the years of administration, even if only 30% of the reach the market (26). However, it is in line with current as-
population is treated (Fig. 2A). As soon as the intervention sessments of mass “screening and treatment” and drug admin-
ceases, transmission restarts, then it peaks in the second year istration campaigns as provided by the Malaria Modeling
after cessation of the intervention and wanes again thereafter. Consortium and does provide a comparison with the current
The rebound in transmission may result in a higher cumulative state of the art (27). Assuming a population coverage of 30%,
number of cases in the years postintervention compared with a the modeling results show that the intervention has the greatest

Table 2. In vitro metabolism of fluralaner and afoxolaner

Human hepatocytes Dog hepatocytes Rat hepatocytes
Human plasma,
Compound t1/2, min CLint, μL/min/ 106 cells t1/2, min CLint, μL/min/ 106 cells t1/2, min CLint, μL/min/ 106 cells unbound fraction (%)

Fluralaner >216.8 <6.4 >216.8 <6.4 >216.8 <6.4 1.6

Afoxolaner >216.8 <6.4 >216.8 <6.4 >216.8 <6.4 ND
7-Ethoxy-coumarin 20.1 69.1 14.0 99.3 61.8 22.4 —

The table shows in vitro degradation of fluralaner and afoxolaner and, as a control, ethoxycoumarin, by human, dog and rat primary hepatocytes. The
results are shown as the half-life (t1/2) and intrinsic in vitro clearance (CLint) of each compound. The data are based on 5-point time courses. The last column
shows the percentage of afoxolaner and fluralaner unbound to human plasma. The results are based on 3 replicate experiments. ND, not detected; no peak
was observed in the buffer sample, indicating that the molecule may be highly bound to plasma proteins.

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 PNAS PLUS
PHARMACOLOGY

Fig. 2. Modeled impact of mass drug administration of an isoxazoline drug. Reduction in the incidence of both symptomatic (clinical) and asymptomatic
infections in Zika (Top) and clinical incidence and cumulative clinical incidence in malaria (Bottom) after 2 y of fluralaner/afoxolaner mass drug administration
(MDA) during the transmission season (indicated by the pink shaded areas), with either 30% or 80% of the population age >5 y receiving the drug each year.
The model assumes a mosquitocidal drug dose resulting in blood levels >IC99 for 90 d. The two initial years of treatment are followed by three transmission
seasons without further intervention.

impact (>70% reduction in clinical cases) in areas with low and terms of absolute impact, a 30% reduction in cases in countries
very seasonal transmission, such as Senegal, Sudan, Madagascar, like the Democratic Republic of the Congo, where the World
Namibia, Botswana, and Zimbabwe (Fig. 3). In these countries, a Health Organization estimated 16–26 million cases in 2015,
large proportion of annual transmission occurs in a short period. may be more significant than a 70% reduction in, for example,
Therefore, administration of a single dose of an isoxazoline drug Senegal, where the estimated number of cases was 1.1–2.8
at the beginning of this season would dramatically decrease the million (28).
number of cases over the full year. In the rest of the continent, Because up-to-date information on population size at the
isoxazoline administration is predicted to have less impact but administrative unit scale is lacking (29), data on the absolute
still to result in a minimum 30% reduction in clinical cases. In reduction in cases cannot be provided here. Nevertheless, from

Miglianico et al. PNAS | vol. 115 | no. 29 | E6923

Fig. 3. Predicted impact of mass administration of an isoxazoline drug on malaria incidence in Africa. The figure shows cumulative reduction in incidence
during 2 y of fluralaner/afoxolaner mass drug administration covering 30% of the population age >5 y, dosed once per year optimally timed in relation to
the start of the transmission season. The model uses available data on regional disease prevalence in 2015 and a seasonality profile as illustrated in SI Ap-
pendix, Fig. S2.

this simplified but illustrative approach (see Materials and were negative in mutagenicity/genotoxicity studies, and no effects
Methods for limitations), the key message is that this intervention on embryo-fetal development in rats were observed below ma-
is predicted to have a significant impact on malaria transmission, ternal toxic levels.
with the greatest efficacy in areas with low transmission and a To assess a maximum human tolerated dose, we used the
short transmission season. guidelines provided by the US Food and Drug Administration to
translate the reported rat and dog no-adverse effect levels
Preliminary Assessment of Human Safety. Nonclinical safety studies (NOAELs) to cognate human dose levels. These allometry
of fluralaner (30, 31) and afoxolaner (32–34) have been con- guidelines are based on data showing that toxic endpoints scale
ducted for veterinary indications and can be leveraged to offer a well between species when doses are normalized to body surface
preliminary assessment of the human safety of a single dose of area (35). The results show that anticipated median single doses
these isoxazoline molecules. The reported oral toxicity profile of of fluralaner (410 mg) and afoxolaner (260 mg) in humans are
afoxolaner consists of a diuretic effect (rats only), effects sec- comparable to or lower than equivalent doses considered to be
ondary to a reduction in food consumption (rats and rabbits NOAELs based on acute and repeat-dose toxicity studies in rats
only), and occasional vomiting and/or diarrhea in dogs following and dogs (SI Appendix, Table S3). Interestingly, veterinary for-
high oral doses. No treatment-related effects on vomiting or mulations of afoxolaner and fluralaner are based on racemic
diarrhea were noted in dogs following oral afoxolaner doses of mixtures, whereas the S-enantiomer has been reported to be the
up to 31.5 mg/kg once monthly for 3 mo (33). Fluralaner showed active component against ectoparasites (15, 36). Thus, future
similar mild gastrointestinal events (diarrhea, vomiting, in- development of a human application of these molecules will
appetence, and drooling) in dogs, no adverse events in a single- benefit from further characterization of the activity and toxi-
dose toxicity study in rats, and some histopathological abnor- cology profile of the active enantiomer, which may lead to a 50%
malities in lung, thymus, and liver in a repeat dose study in rats in reduction in the required dose. The veterinary application of the
the highest dose groups (400–600 mg/kg) with liver as the main racemic form of these drugs provides a first assessment of their
target, showing hepatocellular fatty changes (30). Importantly, safety. Given the indirect clinical benefit of an isoxazoline-based
there was no significant neurotoxicity findings in rats or beagle intervention, an extremely favorable human safety margin would
dogs. This is consistent with both in vitro and in vivo data be essential, and detailed additional nonclinical studies (toxi-
showing that these compounds have no significant interaction cology, pharmacokinetics, and metabolism) will be required be-
with the mammalian GABA receptor (12, 15). Overall, isoxazo- fore a first-in-human isoxazoline drug application can be filed
lines were well tolerated and showed mild and clinically moni- with a regulatory authority. Alternatively, administration to
torable adverse events. Moreover, both fluralaner and afoxolaner livestock could be considered as a means of controlling the

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 PNAS PLUS
vector population. This could be effective in areas where a large Systemic Test of Insecticidal Activity on Mosquitoes. Blood meals containing
proportion of blood meals is of livestock origin but would be less 50% human red blood cells and 50% human serum were supplemented with
different doses of either isoxazoline (3.16 μM, 1 μM, 316 nM, 100 nM,
effective in areas where insects are mainly anthropophilic (37).
31.6 nM, 10 nM, 3.16 nM, or 1 nM) diluted first in DMSO and then in serum
Furthermore, the clinical impact would be significantly less to reach a final DMSO concentration of 0.1%. A vehicle control (0.1% DMSO)
compared with a scenario of human administration, as the direct was included in all experiments. The supplemented blood meals were then
effect on pathogen transmission would be lacking. fed to 3-to 10-d old female mosquitoes in a membrane feeder system pre-
viously described for standard membrane feeding assays (49). At 24 h after
Conclusion feeding, the numbers of dead and live mosquitoes among the fed pop-
Drug-based vector control holds great promise for reducing ulation were recorded. Survival was calculated as the percentage of live
mosquitoes at 24 h postfeeding out of the total number of fed mosquitoes
disease burden. Pioneering work with ivermectin, a broadly used
per treatment.
antihelminthic that shows adulticidal activity against Anopheles
mosquitoes, has delivered an important proof of concept by Sand Fly Colonies and Feeding. P. argentipes (originating from India, 2008)
demonstrating reduced survival of blood-fed mosquitoes and and L. longipalpis (originating from Brazil, 1991) have been reared at Lab-
likelihood of malaria transmission (38, 39). However, ivermec- oratory of Vector Biology, Charles University, Prague, for many generations.
tin’s half-life (18 h in human) necessitates the use of multiple Sand flies were maintained under standard conditions as described pre-
viously (50). For evaluation of insecticidal activity of isoxazolines on sand
doses, a limitation that poses challenges in terms of logistics and
flies, we tested different doses of fluralaner and afoxolaner (31.6 nM,
drug compliance (6). Long-lasting formulations and higher doses 100 nM, 316 nM, 1 μM, 3.16 μM, and 10 μM) diluted in DMSO and mixed with
are being pursued to solve this issue (9, 38), but these will require sterile defibrinated rabbit blood. One hundred females (3–5 d old) of both
de novo safety studies, delaying entry into clinical studies and species were fed through a chick-skin membrane on rabbit blood with dif-
ultimate market approval. Effectively, development times of ferent doses of insecticides. Fully blood fed females were separated, and
novel ivermectin formulations may be comparable to those of an mortality was recorded at 24 h after a blood meal. The experiments with
both isoxazolines were done twice in P. argentipes and once in L. long-
isoxazoline drug, although the latter cannot benefit from the vast
ipalpis. A negative control (0.1% DMSO diluted in rabbit blood) was used in
amount of pharmacovigilance data available for ivermectin. The all experiments. The displayed results are normalized to control mortality
doses of ivermectin used today to impact anopheline mosquitoes (<3% in all experiments).
are insufficient for control of Aedes or Culex mosquitoes that
transmit arboviral diseases (40, 41). In contrast, our data show Data Analysis for Viability Assays. IC50 values were calculated by applying a
potent effects of isoxazolines against a range of disease vectors. four-parameter logistic regression model using a least squares method to
The impact of mass isoxazoline drug administration may be find the best fit using the GraphPad Prism 5.0 software package.
greatest in diseases where human is the single vertebrate host, as
WHO Insecticide Susceptibility Test. The 2- to 5-d-old female mosquitoes were
opposed to diseases that cycle between a human and an animal routinely profiled for resistance to insecticides and colonies selected fol-
reservoir (e.g., West Nile Virus, leishmaniasis) (3, 42). As shown lowing the methodology recommended by the World Health Organization
in our modeling data, even a 30% population coverage could (51) and using test kits and insecticide impregnated papers supplied by
lead to a substantial reduction in the clinical incidence of malaria Universiti Sains Malaysia.
or Zika fever. In conclusion, repurposing of isoxazoline com-
Hepatocyte Metabolism Assays. Isoxazolines and control compounds (7-
pounds offers substantial promise for the development of a
ethoxycoumarin and 7-hydroxycoumarin; Sigma-Aldrich) were dissolved in
single-dose vector-control drug based on a novel mode of action DMSO at 10 and 30 mM, respectively, then diluted first 20-fold with 45%
compared with commonly used insecticides, with activity against methanol in water and another 10-fold in prewarmed Williams’ Medium E.

PHARMACOLOGY
a broad range of relevant disease vectors. Cryopreserved human, dog, and rat hepatocytes (In Vitro Technologies) were
thawed, isolated by Percoll gradient, and suspended in Williams’ Medium E.
Materials and Methods They were then dispensed into the wells of 96-well plates containing 10 μL of
Chemical Extraction and Purification. Fluralaner and afoxolaner were diluted compounds, to reach a final concentration of 0.5 × 106 cells/mL and
obtained by extraction and purification from Bravecto (Merck Animal Health) either 1 μM isoxazolines or 3 μM control. After an incubation at 37 °C of 0, 15,
and Nexgard (Merial) pills, respectively. The pills were smashed into fine 30, 60 or 90 min, the reaction was stopped with acetonitrile. The samples were
powder by mortar and pestle. A solvent of dichloromethane and methanol then shaken for 10 min at 500 rpm and then centrifuged at 3,220 × g for 20 min.
(1:1) was then added to the powder. The mixture was stirred at room Supernatants were transferred and stored at 4 °C until LC-MS-MS analysis.
temperature for 1 h and then filtered. The filtrate was concentrated under a
rotary evaporator, and the product was purified by silica gel chromatogra- Human Dose Prediction. Dog pharmacokinetic parameters reported previously
(12, 18) were used to estimate corresponding human parameters and derive
phy. LCMS and NMR matched values reported in the literature (43, 44).
drug doses necessary to reach human plasma concentrations with insecticidal
activity. Details of the allometry methods are provided in SI Appendix.
Mosquito Colonies. The colony of Anopheles stephensi (Sind-Kasur Nijmegen
strain) (45) was maintained at the Radboud University Medical Center at
Modeling of Mosquito-Borne Disease Incidence. The models of malaria and
30 °C and 70–80% humidity and on a 12/12-h day/night cycle. The A. gam-
Zika fever incidence were adapted from published transmission models (19,
biae strains Kisumu and Tiassalé 13 and the A. aegypti strains New Orleans
24) to include yearly administration of an isoxazoline drug efficacious
and Cayman were reared at the Liverpool Insect Testing Establishment. against Anopheles and Aedes mosquitoes for 90 d. Details of the model
Kisumu and New Orleans are insecticide-susceptible laboratory strains (46). parameters are provided in SI Appendix.
The New Orleans strain was originally colonized by the Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention (47). The Tiassalé 13 strain was colonized from Estimation of Human No Adverse Effect Levels. Mouse, rat, and dog NOAELs
southern Côte D’Ivoire, where resistance to all classes of insecticide is found obtained from publicly available safety studies on fluralaner (30, 31) and afoxolaner
(46), and the Cayman strain was colonized from Grand Cayman, where A. (32–34) have been scaled to human values using allometry factors of 0.08, 0.16,
aegypti are highly resistant to DDT and pyrethroid insecticides (47). Both and 0.54 respectively, assuming a body weight of 60 kg for humans (35).
resistant strains are routinely selected with insecticides to ensure the
maintenance of resistance (0.75% permethrin for Cayman and 0.05% del- ACKNOWLEDGMENTS. We thank Geert-Jan van Gemert and Laura Pelser-
tamethrin for Tiassalé), and profiled for resistance to a range of insecticides, Posthumus (Radboud University Medical Center) for their help with the A.
including 4% dieldrin, to which Tiassalé is resistant but Cayman is susceptible stephensi experiments. We also thank David Malone from the Innovative
Vector Control Consortium and Helen S. Williams and the other members
(SI Appendix, Table S1). The colony of C. pipiens biotype pipiens originated
of the Liverpool Insect Testing Establishment for help with mosquito exper-
from egg rafts collected from aboveground habitats in 2015 in Best, The iments. Finally, we thank the DuPont Company for supporting the initiation
Netherlands, and was maintained at Wageningen University, The Nether- of our research on isoxazolines. K.P., M.J., and P.V. were supported by the
lands, on a 16/8-h day/night cycle at 23 °C and 60% humidity (48). UNCE (204072) and Infravec2 (H2020 and 731060) Projects.

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