Genetic Diversity, Biodiversity Prospecting, Pharmaceuticals Agriculture, Instituto Nacional de Biodiversidad, Biodiversity Prospecting

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Biodiversity and its Conservation
Biodiversity and its Conservation Introduction
Current Levels of Biodiversity
Alpha (α) and Beta(β) Biodiversity
Extinction and Endangered Species
Reasons of Concern for Loss of Biodiversity
Ethical and Aesthetic Rewards
Economic Benefits
Essential Services Provided by Natural Ecosystems
Steps to Preserve Biodiversity
In Situ and Ex Situ Conservation Gene Banks
In Situ Conservation
Ex Situ Conservation
Ex Situ Conservation Efforts at International Level
Ex Situ Conservation Efforts by G-15 Countries
Ex Situ Conservation Efforts in USA

	Genetic Diversity vs Biodiversity Prospecting: Pharmaceuticals vs Agriculture The concept of sovereign rights of a nation over its genetic resources also led to the concept of biodiversity prospecting, thus giving a price tag to the genetic diversity. In this connection, Merck-INbio Agreement is most widely quoted, and therefore deserves a brief mention here. In September 1991, INBio (Instituto Nacional de Biodiversidad), a Costa Rican private non-profit organization and the US pharmaceutical firm Merck & Co.had entered into a two years agreement on 'biodiversity prospecting', meaning the exploration of biodiversity for commercially valuable genetic resources.
Under the terms of agreement, Merck & Co. provided more than US $ 1.0 million for a limited number of extracts from accessions gathered by Costa Rican ecochemists. Additional funds were provided by Merck for equipment and training of scientists. The partners have agreed on a royalty- sharing system, if any of the material is commercialized. The Merck-INBio agreement attempts to bring biodiversity conservation and industrial development together and is used as a model for future initiatives for biodiversity prospecting. Other bioprospectors quoted in this connection are Shaman Pharmacelticals and Biotics. Although, agreement like Merck-INBio agreement are considered as models for cooperation, there are also drawbacks. From industry's point of view, drug discovery process is 100ig, difficult and expensive. Introduction of one new drug requires 10-15 years at an expense of US $ 269 million and only 1 in 1000 compounds reaches the final phase of development. From Costa Rican point of view, the material and knowledge handed over to Merck and Co. will make it easier for them to obtain patents on biological resources, thus prohibiting Costa Ricans to carry out research on their own native plants. Costa Rica will receive only 10% of the money, that INBio earns from this agreement.
Prospects of important commercial gains in the agricultural sector are not as attractive as in the pharmaceutical sector. There are two reasons for this: (i) profits from a pharmaceutical product are likely to be enormous relative to those from a new crop variety; (ii) profits from pharmaceuticals will be shared with one nation, from where the plant species was taken, but a crop variety can be traced back to material from many nations, who will. share the profit with the company exploiting the material.