Pharmaceutical Giant Shares the Wealth

This is part of a series of essays on bioprospecting and biopiracy. The other essays are: “Bioprospecting or Biopiracy?”; “High-Tech Piracy”; “Mapping the Territory”; “Transnationals With a Conscience”; and “Biodiversity Resources”. 

Given biodiversity’s growing value to industry and its diminishing supply as a result of the destruction of rainforests around the world, it is not surprising that countries rich in biodiversity would seek to profit from it. But what is unique about the current initiatives is that they are likely to lead to a situation in which the use of genetic resources contributes to the conservation of those resources, to the development needs of the source country, and to higher profits for industry.

The best example of this is the National Biodiversity Institute (INBio) in Costa Rica, which in September 1991 announced a groundbreaking agreement with the U.S.-based pharmaceutical firm Merck & Co. Under this contract, INBio will provide Merck’s drug-screening program with chemical extracts from wild plants, insects, and microorganisms. In return, Merck will provide INBio with a two-year research and sampling budget of $1.14 million, royalties on any commercial products that result, and technical assistance and training to help establish drug research in Costa Rica. INBio agreed to contribute 10 percent of the up-front payment from Merck and 50 percent of any royalties to Costa Rica’s National Park Fund to help conserve national parks.