Absent reforms, protectionism will gut research and innovation

Traditional knowledge is disappearing at a rapid rate.27 Research conducted from 2000-2009 found that traditional knowledge from an Amazonian community was being lost at a rate that ranged from 9% to 26% with most of the loss happening 17. Intellectual Property and Bioprospecting, supra note 5, at 268 (defining “Preliminary hit”) (“[T]he compound that is selected from a large number of compounds because of either its phenotype or process which is relevant for the disease being researched.”). 18. Intellectual Property and Bioprospecting, supra note 5, at 268; Daniel S. Fabricant & Norman R. Farnsworth, The Value of Plants Used in Traditional Medicine for Drug Discovery, 109 ENV’T HEALTH PERSPS. 69, 72 (2001). 19. Intellectual Property and Bioprospecting, supra note 5, at 268. 20. Patents, Disclosure, and Biopiracy, supra note 15, at 550. 21. Intellectual Property and Bioprospecting, supra note 5, at 268. 22. Id. at 269. 23. Id. 24. Id. 25. Id. 26. See id. 27. Id. at 261. 221104 Soto Macro.docx (Do Not Delete) 3/21/2023 11:42 AM 2022] Piracy by Patents 487 in communities living closer to cities.28 As urbanization of rural communities increases, the rate at which traditional knowledge disappears will also increase.29 Two major reasons traditional knowledge is being lost at this rate: the use of oral transmission, instead of written documentation, among indigenous peoples and local communities, and the protectionist trend which restricts access to traditional knowledge. 30 Almost 200 countries have agreed to increase access to traditional knowledge and genetic resources by signing the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD).31 However, in response to the absence of legal protection for traditional knowledge in other nations, megadiverse countries are participating in a protectionist trend.32 The rising protectionist trend in megadiverse countries limits access to the traditional knowledge that has proven to be valuable for biopharmaceutical research.33 An increase in restrictions will decrease opportunities to collaborate in bioprospecting and will slow down innovation because megadiverse countries make up almost 70% of the world’s diversity.34 If the protectionist trend continues, it will be difficult to maintain bioprospecting relationships with megadiverse countries.35 This trend would be less problematic if the restrictive measures of the megadiverse countries would lead to the creation of new products based on their own traditional knowledge.36 These countries, however, usually do not have the capacity to use their traditional knowledge to create and produce new products.37 By failing to protect traditional knowledge, the United States is making it more challenging for its researchers to access essential resources in biodiverse countries.38