Bioprospecting Dispute Puts New Twist On IP Rules

Peruvian government officials are challenging US patents on pharmaceutical and supplement products derived from the maca plant, which is grown in Andes. The dispute concerns the intellectual property rights that adhere to commercial products made from plants and other substances often long used in traditional medicines. Pharmaceutical companies and the US government in particular argue that they take on the costly task of isolating and developing novel products based on substances long known to traditional peoples, and that the end commercial products represent wholly re-engineered products with novel qualities.

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