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Nature 427, 576 (12 February 2004) | doi:10.1038/427576a

Bioprospectors hunt for fair share of profits

Rex Dalton

Representatives of almost 200 nations convene in Malaysia this week to try to agree terms for sharing profits from natural molecules and organisms between indigenous peoples, scientists, governments and drug companies.But as delegates gather in Kuala Lumpur to update the ten-year-old Convention on Biological Diversity, researchers and pharmaceutical companies worldwide are struggling to make bioprospecting for such compounds work.