Hanging in balance
I t was too good to last. The honeymoon between the us -based Shaman Pharmaceuticals and 30 ethnic communities across Latin America, Africa and Southeast Asia seems to be over. In February 1998, Provir, a promising anti-diarrhoeal drug based on ethnic medicinal knowledge, which Shaman was trying to develop for aids patients, was found to be wanting by the Food and Drug Administration ( fda ) of the us , which asked for more clinical trials. Shaman just threw up its hands, and gave up; additional trials mean a delay of 18 months and millions of dollars in additional expense.
Once again, traditional communities have been left in the lurch. There is more at stake than just Provir: the future of indigenous communities worldwide. In contrast to the intellectual property rights recognised by the Trade Related Intellectial Property Rights ( trips ) of the World Trade Organisation, traditional knowledge is taken for granted in the public domain. Hence it is not patentable. However, the Convention on Biological Diversity ( cbd ) recognises the contribution of these communities and calls for member nations to develop a system so that these communities can be adequately compensated.
Shaman was one of the pharmaceutical companies that went ahead with an arrangement with indigenous communities, providing short, medium and long-term benefits to the people. While the first two obligations have already been met by Shaman, the world was watching with bated breath for the long-term benefits to materialise
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