Negotiators are discussing an agreement at the ongoing COP16 UN biodiversity summit in Colombia on payment for the use of data known as digital sequence information (DSI), which is heavily used by manufacturers of drugs and agricultural products. Companies ranging from AstraZeneca and GSK to Bayer access the information mostly for free, but nations agreed at the last COP15 summit to set up a multilateral fund for ‘benefit sharing’ from its use. The most controversial option, put forward by a group of African nations, would impose a levy of 1% of the retail value of all products made with ISD. The German pharmaceutical and agricultural conglomerate Bayer has argued that the additional cost to companies could translate into higher prices for food and other products
