An Access & Benefit Sharing Case Study
Sarah Laird, Catherine Monagle, and Sam Johnston - UNU-IAS
Department of the Environment, Water, Heritage and the Arts, 2008
About the report
This study examines the Natural Product Discovery partnership between Griffith University, an Australian University based in the State of Queensland, and the pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca. Commissioned by the Australian Government Department of Environment, Water Resources, Heritage and the Arts, and carried out by UNU-IAS, the study was initiated in 2007 and represents developments up to the current time.
The intention is that this study is interesting not only on its own terms, but that it offers observations relevant to a broad international audience whose interests lie in areas including genetic resource management and regulation; the science of natural products discovery, the challenges, successes and limitations of partnerships between the private sector and academia; and issues surrounding traditional knowledge and genetic resources.
This study should also serve as a grounded example to help inform debate during the negotiations for an International Regime on Access and Benefit Sharing that are currently taking place within the Convention on Biological Diversity. In these negotiations, which involve many controversial issues and that are developing in the context of fast evolving science and fast changing industry practices, knowledge of real experience will be key to negotiating functional outcomes that will assist the objectives of the Convention to be realised.