The Importance of Patent from the White Paper on the Development of Traditional Chinese Medicine

On December 6, the Information Office of the State Council issued a white paper entitled "traditional Chinese Medicine in China", which is the first time that China has issued a white paper on the development of traditional Chinese medicine. It was also after the State Council issued the "Outline of the Strategic Plan for the Development of Traditional Chinese Medicine (2016-2030)" in February this year, which raised the development of Chinese medicine to a national strategy; then in October, the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and the State Council issued the "Outline of the" Healthy China 2030 "Plan". After a series of tasks and measures to revitalize the development of Chinese medicine, the country once again expressed its great importance to the development of Chinese medicine.

This white paper summarizes the development of traditional Chinese medicine in China from the aspects of the historical development and characteristics of traditional Chinese medicine, the national policies and main measures for the development of traditional Chinese medicine in China, the inheritance and development of traditional Chinese medicine, and the international exchange and cooperation of traditional Chinese medicine. The full text is about 9000 words, composed of three parts: preface, text and conclusion, and is published in Chinese, English, French, Russian, German, Spanish, Japanese, Arabic and other languages.

In recent years, Chinese medicine has developed rapidly. According to relevant data, the total output value of China's traditional Chinese medicine industry reached 786.6 billion billion yuan in 2015, accounting for 28.55 percent of the scale of the pharmaceutical industry, becoming a new economic growth point; the healthy industry of traditional Chinese medicine exceeded 1 trillion billion yuan, and the market has great potential for development. In the "Twelfth Five-Year Plan" period, the total output value of China's traditional Chinese medicine industry grew by 20%. Traditional Chinese medicine industry has gradually become a strategic industry with unique advantages and broad market prospects in the development of national economy and society. Based on the production of medicinal materials, industry as the main body and commerce as the link, China's modern Chinese medicine industry system has been basically established. At present, there are about 60000 drug approval numbers for domestic traditional Chinese medicine ethnic medicine, and 2088 pharmaceutical enterprises that have passed the (GMP) certification of drug production quality management standards produce proprietary Chinese medicines.

On the other hand, China has basically established a TCM medical service system covering urban and rural areas. In cities, an urban TCM medical service network has been formed, mainly composed of TCM (ethnic medicine, integrated Chinese and Western medicine) hospitals, TCM outpatient departments and clinics, TCM clinical departments in general hospitals, and community health service institutions. In rural areas, a rural TCM medical service network has been formed, mainly composed of county-level TCM hospitals, general hospitals (Junior College hospitals, maternal and child health care hospitals) TCM clinical departments, township health centers TCM departments and village clinics, providing basic TCM medical prevention and health care services. By the end of 2015, there were 3966 traditional Chinese medicine hospitals in China, including 253 ethnic medicine hospitals and 446 integrated traditional Chinese and western medicine hospitals. There are 452000 practicing (assistant) physicians in the category of Chinese medicine (including ethnic physicians and integrated Chinese and Western medicine physicians). There are 42528 outpatient departments and clinics of traditional Chinese medicine in China, including 550 outpatient departments and clinics of ethnic medicine and 7706 outpatient departments and clinics of integrated traditional Chinese and western medicine. In 2015, the total number of medical and health institutions of traditional Chinese medicine reached 0.91 billion, and the number of discharged patients from traditional Chinese medicine medical and health institutions nationwide reached 26.915 million.

In terms of the inheritance of traditional Chinese medicine, by the end of 2015, there were 42 colleges and universities of traditional Chinese medicine, and more than 200 colleges and universities of western medicine or non-medical colleges and universities set up traditional Chinese medicine majors, with a total of 752000 students.

The white paper also pointed out that in 2015, the total number of diagnoses and treatments in TCM medical and health institutions nationwide reached 0.91 billion, and the number of discharges from TCM medical and health institutions nationwide was 26.915 million. In addition to contributing to the prevention and treatment of common diseases, frequently-occurring diseases, and intractable diseases, Chinese medicine has also played an important role in the prevention and treatment of major epidemics and public emergencies.

Traditional Chinese medicine has a good effect in the prevention and treatment of infectious diseases such as AIDS, hand, foot and mouth disease, and human infection with H7N9 avian influenza. It has also played a unique role in the medical treatment of emergencies such as the Wenchuan earthquake in Sichuan, the devastating mudslide in Zhouqu, Gansu, and the explosion in Kunshan, Jiangsu. At the same time, the achievements of traditional Chinese medicine in the treatment of influenza A H1N1 have attracted the attention of the international community; the efficacy of traditional Chinese medicine and the combination of traditional Chinese and western medicine in the treatment of infectious atypical pneumonia has been affirmed by the World Health Organization.

At present, Chinese medicine has spread to 183 countries and regions. According to statistics from the World Health Organization, 103 member states currently recognize the use of acupuncture, of which 29 have established laws and regulations on traditional medicine, and 18 have incorporated acupuncture into the medical insurance system. Chinese medicine has gradually entered the international pharmaceutical system and has been registered in the form of drugs in Russia, Cuba, Vietnam, Singapore and the United Arab Emirates. More than 30 countries and regions have opened hundreds of Chinese medicine colleges and universities to cultivate localized Chinese medicine talents. The World Federation of Acupuncture and Moxibustion Societies, headquartered in China, has 194 member groups in 53 countries and regions, and the World Federation of Chinese Medicine Societies has 251 member groups in 67 countries and regions.

At present, the popularity of traditional Chinese medicine in foreign countries is best illustrated by the fire pot brand on Phelps, a famous swimmer in Brazil at the Olympic Games. Tu Youyou, another celebrity in the field of traditional Chinese medicine, let us realize another thing, that is, the importance of patents.

China is the first country to discover that artemisinin can treat malaria, and it is also the first country to successfully extract high-purity artemisinin. For such a technology, which has made outstanding contributions to science and technology and has great market prospects, it should have applied for multiple patents in time for new compounds (artemisinin), preparation methods (ethanol extraction) and uses (treatment of malaria). However, the research and development unit did not protect the intellectual property rights of artemisinin technology, and China lost the opportunity to obtain monopoly benefits from the widely used artemisinin drug market.

Although China's patent law promulgated in 1984 is later than the invention time of artemisinin-related technology, this is not the reason that affects the application of patents abroad. After the results of artemisinin research were achieved in the early 1970 s, they were only published on a small scale in internal journals in the form of confidential information. However, when the Academy of Traditional Chinese Medicine heard that Yugoslavia was also studying artemisia plant extracts, in order to publish the results before its foreign counterparts, it began to publish papers in public journals in 1977 under the collective name with the approval of the Ministry of Health. With the publication of the paper, the technical achievements disclosed in the paper have lost the novelty requirements stipulated in the patent laws of various countries, so they cannot be authorized.

China has given up applying for artemisinin basic technology patents, and powerful R & D institutions and pharmaceutical companies such as the United States and Switzerland have conducted extensive research on the artificial total synthesis of artemisinin, artemisinin complexes, purification and preparation processes based on the technologies disclosed in Chinese papers, and have applied for a large number of patents for improvements and peripheral technologies. Despite several efforts, Chinese pharmaceutical companies still lag behind the United States, Europe and Japan in artemisinin-related technology, and their market share is also concentrated in the supply of raw materials.

Just imagine, if Tu Youyou realized the importance of patents at the beginning of the research, then China's pharmaceutical market will be a different scene now!

News source:http://news.bioon.com/article/6695044.html

This news was re-edited and reorganized by the Huaxun team and added analytical comments.