To the editor:

In November of 2000, Nature Biotechnology published a commentary of mine entitled “Good faith gone bad” (18, 1123) highlighting the problems that can arise when collaborations between multinational pharmaceutical companies and research institutes in developing countries go awry. The article detailed the circumstances behind an “unfortunate misunderstanding” involving the financial compensation due to Alejandro Alagon and the Institute of Biotechnology of the Autonomous National University of Mexico (Cuernavaca), for fundamental scientific contributions to the development of a biologic being commercialized by Schering AG (Berlin). The biologic is a new-generation plasminogen activator derived from the saliva of the vampire bat of the tropical Americas; it promises to compete favorably with the human recombinant tissue plasminogen activator.

Since publication of the article in your pages, I am pleased to be able to write that every aspect of that “misunderstanding” has now been resolved to the complete satisfaction of all the interested parties. When partners in developed and developing countries work together in a spirit of mutual 'enlightened self-interest', indigenous biodiversity can be tapped for the benefit of both local economies and the discovery of powerful new medicines.