Common Contracts

Bioprospecting Extra Credit

March 24th, 2013

• Filed
  March 24th, 2013

In 1991, Merck, the pharmaceutical giant, struck a landmark deal with the private non-profit National Biodiversity Institute, INBio, in Costa Rica to pay for millions of dollars worth of royalties, equipment and supplies to InBio whose scientists would collect plants, insects and microorganisms from the protected jungles of Costa Rica for Merck scientists to research for use as potential pharmaceutical agents. The agreement gave Merck patent rights over any chemicals discovered. These types of agreements came to be known as “bioprospecting” as they were so similarly constructed to those regarding mineral exploration. Since between 50-80% of all pharmaceuticals are derived from natural materials, and habitat diversity is steadily trending down, these agreements have not been without controversy, but they also have not been very productive: to date, Merck has not been able to realize any profit from the agreement. So why persist? See if you can develop some understanding through these tw