Diminishing Biodiverse Returns

"It took 20 tortuous years to get from the bark of the Pacific Yew tree to a medication for breast cancer. But now Taxol is a common treatment for women with early breast cancer, and despite the false leads and blind alleys in the laboratory, researchers and pharmaceutical companies had incentive to pursue the cure. That could change drastically if rules for patenting new discoveries derived from natural molecules (like those found in the yew plant) are changed." by Sally Satel.