It is well known that methods of medical treatment do not
constitute patentable subject matter in Canada. One of the reasons
for this prohibition is to prevent a medical professional from
being barred from practicing a beneficial medical treatment that
may be based on their skill and judgment. Accordingly, claims
directed to surgical, medical, dental, or physiotherapeutic methods
of treatment are not patentable. In addition, there have been
several recent court decisions in Canada where dosage regimens were
held to be methods of medical treatment, and therefore not
patentable subject matter, and the corresponding patents held to be
invalid and unenforceable.
During prosecution of a patent application, objections to method
of medical treatment claims are generally overcome by simply
rewriting the claims in a manner that is acceptable to the Canadian
Patent Office. For example, a claim to a method of treating disease
X with compound Y would not constitute patentable
