Traditional Medicine in Asia

Protection of traditional systems of medicine, patenting and promotion of medicinal plants
Protection of traditional
systems of medicine,
patenting and promotion
of medicinal plants
people in developing countries, where
access to “modern” health care services
and medicine is limited by economic and
cultural reasons. TM is broadly used in such
countries, i often being the only affordable
treatment available to poor people and in
remote communities. The relevance of TM
in developing countries may increase in the
future in a context of growing poverty and
marginalization and, particularly, in view
of the high prices generally charged for
patented medicines. ii
Introduction
raditional Medicine (TM) serves the
T health needs of a vast majority of
TM also plays an important role in
developed countries, where the demand for
“herbal medicines” has grown in recent
years. Moreover, many pharmaceutical
products are based on, or consist of,
biological materials. These include
Carlos M. Correa
compounds extracted from plants and
algae as well as human proteins obtained
by extraction or through genetic
engineering techniques (e.g., interferon,
erythropoietin, growth hormone). Plants, in
particular, are an indispensable source of
medicines. iii
The protection of TM under intellectual
property rights (IPRs) raises two types of
issues. On the one hand, an important
question is the extent to which TM may be
protected under existing IPRs or new
modalities thereof. Certain aspects of TM
may be covered by patents or other IPRs. iv
There have also been many proposals to
develop sui generis systems of protection.
Such proposals are often based on
considerations of equity: if innovators in the
“formal” system of innovation receive a
compensation through IPRs, holders of
traditional knowledge should be similarly
treated.
i For instance, the per capita consumption of TM products is, in Malaysia, more than double that of modern
pharmaceuticals. TM is even significant in more advanced developing countries such as South Korea, where the
per capita consumption of TM products is about 36% more than that of modern drugs (1, p. iii).
ii The TRIPS Agreement has imposed the obligation to recognize product patents for pharmaceuticals.
iii See, e.g., 2, p. 1.
iv In particular, trade secrets protection, which relates to undisclosed information of a commercial and technical
nature, may apply to different components of TM .
227