Bioprospecting from Medicinal Plants and Benefit Sharing

Medicinal plants are valued sources of herbal medications, with significant untapped commercial pharmaceutical potential. Worldwide, between 50,000 and 80,000 plant species are utilized for therapeutic purposes. Almost 80% of people in developing and underdeveloped nations rely entirely on herbal medications for primary healthcare, while more than 25% of recommended medicines in industrialized countries are derived from wild plant species. In India, plants are used in approximately 90% of ayurvedic remedies with many ayurvedic remedies being polyherbal, involving a combination of 3–30 plants. The legal issues related to bio-prospecting have been brought to the forefront as developing nations rich in biological resources and traditional knowledge, have become the epicenter of research by the developed nations for obtaining patents and establishing a monopoly over these resources/knowledge. Paradoxically about 80% of the medicinal plant patents in the U.S are of Indian origin, and 50% of the drugs reported in the British Pharmacopoeia have their origins in medicinal plants from the Western Himalayas, but bioprospecting has yielded only limited economic benefit to India. Natural products may serve as crucial templates for the creation of synthetic libraries, and more often such research is guided by existing indigenous knowledge, which may also be available in the public domain. In this chapter, we examine various factors affecting bioprospecting and benefit sharing in developing nations such as the sustainability of medicinal plant resources, intricate trade networks, problems with traceability, focus on academic research and publications, lack of harmonized system codes (HS Codes) for the export of Indian medicinal plants, etc. The challenges faced in the commoditization of bioresources and associated knowledge through bioprospecting and the impact of new technologies such as genomics, combinatorial chemistry, and the development of synthetic derivatives on equitable sharing of benefits are mentioned. Developing countries like India should build their technical capability, add value to the resources, and create opportunities for benefit sharing with local communities, who have conserved these resources.