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San Antonio is taking on a larger role in the national fight against New World screwworm, with biosecurity company Flyttr choosing the city for what it says will be the nation’s first large-scale research, development and manufacturing platform dedicated to countering major biological pest threats.

For San Antonio, the project represents more than another biotechnology facility. Flyttr plans to establish its U.S. biosecurity headquarters here, building on work already underway with the Texas Biomedical Research Institute and bringing research, engineering and manufacturing under the same umbrella.

The company’s first standalone San Antonio facility is expected to exceed 130,000 square feet and initially add more than 50 jobs in research and development, engineering, operations and support. Flyttr expects employment to grow beyond 100 positions as the operation expands.

Its first assignment is one with particularly high stakes for Texas: producing and developing tools to fight New World screwworm.

New World Screwworm Becomes First Target

Flyttr's first San Antonio initiative, called FastFly, is designed to support the federal response to New World screwworm by adding U.S.-produced sterile flies to efforts led by the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

New World screwworm is a parasitic fly whose larvae feed on the living tissue of warm-blooded animals. It can seriously injure or kill livestock, wildlife and pets and, more rarely, infect people.

The United States eradicated New World screwworm in 1966 using the sterile insect technique, which involves releasing large numbers of sterile male flies. When those males mate with wild females, no offspring are produced, gradually reducing the pest population. Texas animal-health officials say sterile fly releases are again being used as part of the current eradication response.

The issue became much more immediate for Texas this year. New World screwworm was confirmed in a Zavala County calf on June 3, 2026, marking the first U.S. animal detection in the current outbreak. Texas animal-health officials have since reported cases across multiple counties while state and federal agencies conduct surveillance, investigations and sterile fly dispersal operations.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has said the risk to the general U.S. public remains very low and, as of its August update, there had been no reported locally acquired human cases in the United States.

That distinction matters for San Antonio residents: the new facility is primarily about strengthening agricultural, animal-health and national biosecurity infrastructure rather than responding to an immediate public-health threat within the city.

Why Flyttr Chose San Antonio

Flyttr said San Antonio's concentration of research institutions, biosafety infrastructure and specialized scientific talent made the city a natural location for its biosecurity headquarters.

A major piece of that foundation is Texas Biomedical Research Institute, where Flyttr already operates advanced laboratory facilities.

Texas Biomed and Flyttr announced a partnership in June to develop, evaluate and advance biological technologies aimed at controlling New World screwworm. The collaboration combines Flyttr's pest-control technology development with Texas Biomed's infectious-disease research infrastructure and laboratory capabilities.

“Flyttr’s investment in a new San Antonio research and manufacturing facility is an exciting next step forward in our efforts to combat New World screwworm and strengthen our region’s biotech innovation ecosystem,” Texas Biomed President and CEO Larry Schlesinger, MD, said. “Texas Biomed is proud to partner with Flyttr to help address this urgent challenge.”

The expansion also adds another piece to San Antonio's broader bioscience economy, an industry where research, medicine, military health, agriculture and biotechnology increasingly overlap.

For local workers, the project could translate into additional opportunities spanning laboratory science, biotechnology manufacturing, engineering and facility operations. For the region's research community, it brings another company planning to move discoveries beyond the laboratory and into large-scale production.

From Oxitec to Flyttr

While the Flyttr name is relatively new, the company behind it has been working with biological pest-control technologies for more than two decades.

Flyttr was previously known as Oxitec, a company founded in 2002 as a spinout from the University of Oxford. Oxitec became known for developing biological and genetically engineered approaches to controlling insects, including mosquitoes that transmit diseases and agricultural pests. The company formally adopted the Flyttr name in February 2026 as it expanded its focus into a broader biosecurity platform.

Today, Flyttr describes itself as a U.S.-owned and U.S.-led company focused on pest threats affecting public health, agriculture, livestock and other parts of the economy. Its corporate headquarters are in Radford, Virginia, while San Antonio will serve as its biosecurity headquarters.

The company's research footprint extends well beyond Texas. Flyttr lists R&D centers in California, England, Scotland, Australia, Brazil, Panama, Djibouti and Uganda in addition to Texas, along with commercial and partner operations in several other countries.

Its work also extends beyond screwworm. Flyttr has developed programs aimed at mosquitoes associated with diseases such as dengue and malaria as well as pests affecting crops, including almonds, pistachios, corn and soybeans. In Brazil, the company has worked on large-scale mosquito programs intended to reduce dengue transmission.

San Antonio Facility Designed to Respond to More Than One Pest

One of the larger goals behind Flyttr's San Antonio platform is to avoid building a scientific and manufacturing operation that can respond to only one threat.

The company plans to combine research, engineering, testing, manufacturing and scale-up capabilities within a centralized group of facilities. Its stated goal is to shorten the time needed to move a new pest-control technology from concept to production.

FastFly is also expected to explore modular manufacturing systems that could be built relatively quickly, relocated and reconfigured when another biological pest becomes a priority.

That approach could become important as pest threats shift geographically or new invasive species emerge.

“Pest biosecurity is national security,” Flyttr CEO Grey Frandsen said. “This new pest biosecurity platform in San Antonio, the first of its type, will help the U.S. and its allies respond to a range of growing biosecurity threats. The screwworm is the first target, but this builds on Flyttr’s ongoing work in rapidly developing and scaling new pest sentry systems, AI-powered decision-support tools, and advanced biological solutions to target vectors of diseases like dengue and malaria, pest threats to American corn and soy, and to our nation’s forests, the built environment, and industry."

"Strong partners, hundreds of people and dozens of teams are coming together to make this happen fast, because, as screwworm shows us, we have no time to lose to bolster resilience to these threats. And unprecedented effort requires strong partnerships. We could have no better host and partner than the City of San Antonio nor a better champion of the vision than our federal partners within the U.S. government. It’s game time.”

Flyttr said FastFly is being supported by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, or DARPA, as part of the broader USDA-led federal response.

DARPA is separately pursuing advanced New World screwworm detection and surveillance technologies, including systems intended to automatically detect and identify the pest in real time. The agency has identified screwworm as both an agricultural and biosecurity challenge.

Why the San Antonio Biosecurity Investment Matters

The immediate concern is New World screwworm, particularly for ranchers and livestock producers facing the possibility of animal losses, additional monitoring and movement restrictions.

But Flyttr's decision to establish its biosecurity headquarters in San Antonio could have a longer life than the current outbreak.

The facility is being built around a broader question: how quickly can the United States respond when a pest threatens livestock, crops, public health or major industries?

For San Antonio, answering that question here could bring highly specialized jobs, additional private investment and deeper collaboration between local researchers and national agencies. It also places the city at the center of work with implications that stretch from South Texas ranches to farms, forests and communities across the country.

The New World screwworm may be the first test. If Flyttr's broader strategy works as planned, it will not be the last pest tackled from San Antonio.

By Tiffany Krenek, My Neighborhood News 

Tiffany Krenek has been on the My Neighborhood News team since August 2021. She is passionate about curating and sharing content that enriches the lives of our readers in a personal, meaningful way. A loving mother and wife, Tiffany and her family live in the West Houston/Cypress region.

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