Biodiversidade para inovação: regime access-and-benefit sharing, propriedade intelectual e inovação farmacêutica.

Abstract

The article addresses the use of biodiversity for pharmaceutical innovation from the perspective of two international regimes: access-and-benefit sharing (ABS) and intellectual property. First, the potential of biodiversity to inspire new medicinal and biotechnological products is assessed, through data on what has already been produced and the vastness of species not yet prospected. Next, the origin and objectives of the ABS regime are described, its points of contact with the intellectual property regime, problems faced in achieving its objectives, and regulatory weaknesses. Finally, we present negotiation and reform fronts to remedy the weaknesses identified in the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) and the World Intellectual Property Organization's Intergovernmental Committee on Genetic Resources and Traditional Knowledge (IGC/WIPO). Finally, we conclude that the intellectual property regime concentrated in the Trade-related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) agreement is responsible for creating distortions that compromise the efficiency of the incentives established by the ABS regime.