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SOUTH AFRICA: San victorious in bio-piracy row

After a year of legal battling, a preliminary agreement has been reached between the San communities of South Africa and the government-funded South African Council for Scientific and Industrial Research over the patent of a new appetite-suppressing drug expected to reach the market in three years. The active ingredient of the drug is derived from the Hoodia cactus of the Kalahari Desert, which San have been using for millennia to reduce hunger and thirst while hunting.