The Future of Sustainable Use Biodiversity in Brazil

The Future of Sustainable Use Biodiversity in Brazil

Brazil tried to lead the world in sustainable use of biodiversity over the last decades. It attracted the whole world for the RIO 92 summit and Eco 92. The most prominent authorities worldwide came to Rio and a host of countries signed the Biological Diversity Convention (BDC). The goal of the convention is the sustainable use of biological diversity and the fair and equitable sharing of benefits derived from the use of genetic resources, through the appropriate access to genetic resources and transfer of relevant technologies, taking into account all rights over these resources and technologies, and by means of appropriate funding – this is all in the first article of BDC.  Read more

Biotech for the poor

Biotech for the poor

Genetic engineering started in the early seventies. It was called then Recombinant DNA Technology. The first successful experiment in genetic engineering was performed by Herbert Boyer, who expressed the insulin gene in Escherichia coli. Over the last four decades, the pharmaceutical industry has grown into a multi-billion-dollar sector, and in agriculture, more than 170 million hectares have been cultivated with genetically modified plants.  Read more

Encouraging Pharma in Brazil 2: Shifting Paradigms

Encouraging Pharma in Brazil 2: Shifting Paradigms

Slightly more than two years ago I made a contribution to Trade Secrets on the very topic I’m about to again write about. In fact I have been dealing with this subject over the last five years. I devoted a whole chapter of an eBook I published with Bentham E Books last year: Opportunities and Limitation for Biotechnology Innovation in Brazil. Why is this issue so important?  Read more

Brazil and Biotech: an e-Book

Brazil and Biotech: an e-Book

The efforts to develop biotechnology in Brazil now exceed three decades. It began in Brazil at almost the same time as the recombinant DNA technology, which became publicly known early in the ’70s, when Herbert Boyer expressed the insulin gene in E.coli.  Read more