Regulating Bioprospecting: Institutions for Drug Research, Access, and Benefit Sharing by United Nations University (Editor)

From the Publisher

The search for useful biochemical compounds and genes in nature has been the focus of international negotiations for more than a decade, yet debate on the terms for access to genetic resources, traditional knowledge and benefit-sharing is far from settled.

This book examines the optimal property rights structures and institutional mechanisms for regulating bioprospecting for drug research. Focusing on the economics of contracts, it shows that the rights exchanged are complementary at each stage of drug discovery and development of genetic resources. The author examines bioprospecting collaborations in several countries and critiques institutional and contractual factors that led to their success or failure.

This is one of the first books to address the contractual complexities of bioprospecting for drug research and is thus a key text for policy makers, practitioners and scholars in the areas of law, economics, ethnobotany, anthropology, and environmental sciences.

What People Are Saying

Graham Dutfield
"A welcome contribution to an important but highly polarized debate. It offers and objective and academically rigorous treatment of what is a highly complex subject and in doing so should contribute to fairer and more effective bioprospecting regulation."
—Senior Research Fellow, Queen Mary Intellectual Property Research Institute, University of London, UK

Carlos M. Correa
"The author examines, with outstanding analytical capabilities, complex economic issues of particular importance to developing countries and the drug industry. The book offers stimulating insights in a rigorous and accessible manner. It will be of great value for researchers, policy makers, managers, and all those concerned with the protection and sustainable use of biodiversity."
—Unversity of Buenos Aires, Argentina

Daniel B. Magraw
"This book is a significant contribution to the literature and will stimulate valuable discourse."
—President, Centre for International Environmental Law, Washington, USA

Gordon Cragg
"An excellent and comprehensive overview of the many complex facets of the bioprospecting and drug discovery and development process, and an invaluable source of information and guidance to those seeking to establish programs and agreements built on foundations of reasonable access and equitable benefit-sharing."
—Former Director, Natural Products Branch, National Cancer Institute, USA

Product Details

• Table of Contents

Table of Contents