The cannabis patent dispute has now
escalated. The Thai government has issued a decree ordering the
Thai DIP to invalidate all cannabis related patents. The military
government is allowed to do this under the its special powers.
Thailand legalised medical marijuana and kratom applications last
year.
The background is
here but in essence an access to medicines lobby type
panic has arisen because several pharma companies applied to patent
cannabis related inventions. Unfortunately wild misinterpretation
of patent rules has led to speculation that usual ogre, MNC big
pharma is trying to block local research and prevent Thai medicinal
products based on cannabis reaching patients. No one appears to
have checked whether the patents are valid or not, instead simply
asserting that they must be for natural processes. Nor did the
government wait for the DIP's usual patent examination.
