Indigenous people, commerce clash over bioprospecting

Maca growers and indigenous organizations were outraged when, in 2001, a New Jersey company, PureWorld Botanicals, received a U.S. patent for exclusive commercial distribution of an extract of maca’s active libido-enhancing compounds, which it branded as MacaPure. Peruvian officials called the patent an “emblematic case” of biopiracy and are preparing to challenge it in U.S. courts.