Research exchanges and support

Through research exchanges and advance payments that include technology transfer, a developing-country laboratory can tap contracting companies' expertise to build up its in-house skills in drug development. Shaman Pharmaceuticals, Inc., collaborates with research laboratories throughout the tropics, including the University of Nigeria at Nsukka and the Medicinal Plants Research Center in Mexico. Such collaboration between industry scientists and developing-country researchers benefits both parties and thus helps ensure a project's long-term success. As Lynn Caporale of Merck said of its relationship with INBio, "This is not something we have to do for the developing world. There are trained scientists there who need resources so they can do this for themselves. We see potential partnerships as true collaborations and we do not see Costa Rica becoming dependent on this collaboration to move forward" (Caporale, 1992).