GW Pharmaceuticals Violates Thai Law By Filing 6 Cannabis Patents In Thailand

GW Pharmaceuticals Violates Thai Law By Filing 6 Cannabis Patents In Thailand

cannabis patents GW Pharma

Cannabis Activists Are Angry

You can expect Big Pharma to move in FAST whenever the smell of money fills the air…

Late last year, Thailand had just announced that they would be legalizing medical use of cannabis. But A VOA News report said that GW Pharmaceuticals and their Japanese partner Otsuka Pharmaceutical were given patent-pending status by Thailand for certain cannabis extracts. Apparently, the Thai Department of Intellectual Property expedited the first inspection of applications by the two, yet Thai law states that plant extracts cannot be patented.

Cannabis advocates argue that the patents filed breach the law, even if some of the applications are legitimate applications of medicine. “But there has been a few of them that actually just patent the substance itself – the substances that’s derived from cannabis like they were trying to patent THC, CBD, THCA, you know all those named substances, the active ingredients of cannabis. It actually violated the patent policies of Thailand but the fact that the actual application is still pending within the actual patent application process without being cancelled, that’s a big problem that we are having right now,” Highland Network activist Chokwan Kitty Chopaka told VOA News.

Many are angry that the patent applications have been approved, and even worse, made it to pending status. The right thing to do was to have them cancel it.

Prior to the legalization of medical marijuana in Thailand, many were already afraid that this would happen: instead of cannabis being controlled by Thais, that foreign companies would come and dominate the market. To make matters worse, it’s GW Pharmaceuticals, a British firm who already has patents for the first cannabis prescription drug in the United States, Sativex. Sativex was formulated to treat symptoms of multiple sclerosis. GW Pharmaceuticals is also developing other cannabis drugs for epilepsy, cancer, the side effects of chemotherapy, and psychosis.

GW Pharmaceuticals Violates Thai Law

According to Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha, he may end up canceling the patents, invoking article 44 of the constitution which gives him the right to do so.

VOA News were privy to notes from a government meeting that took place on May 28 of last year. Lucksamephen Sarnchawanakit, a pharmacist from the Drug Patent Information (DIP) Subdivision, said that: “It is clear that this is a violation of Article 9(1) of the Thai Intellectual Property Act stating that inventions not protected under the Act include microorganisms and/or any part of the microorganisms found in nature, animals, plants, and plant extracts.”

Based on the minutes of the meeting, a representative from the DIP said: “We only have a small number of inspectors, who are not specifically trained for medical patent inspection, and many more patents which are not yet inspected.”

“Therefore, the inspectors rushed the inspections, which may have caused some problems in the inspections. The DIP will accept all the suggestions and will discuss with the legal team as to ways to deny the applications in the already released official registry.”

In November last year, Intellectual Property Department director general Thosapone Dansuputra said that GW Pharma’s application couldn’t be denied outright since it was submitted with all the necessary documentation. He clarified that this doesn’t mean that it would lead to an approval of the patents.

In fact, not even Thais themselves can patent cannabis products. According to Dr. Somyot Kittimunkong, the author of a book called Marijuana Is Medicine That Cures Cancer, several Thais had already applied for cannabis patents in the past, although they were rejected. “So if we cannot get it, get the patent, why is it the company like Otsuka or GW Pharma can get it?,” he asked.

Patent applications from foreign companies are the biggest controversy in Thailand surrounding medical cannabis. The Thai Intellectual Property Department, specifically, has been notorious for corruption and permitting ineligible cannabis patents to apply. “The IP is intentionally ignoring its legal duty in order to benefit transnational pharmaceutical conglomerates by accepting ineligible cannabinoid medicine patent registration applicants for consideration, reads a report in The Nation by Pratch Rujivanarom. They claim that “in the process, of receiving patent applications, the department has potentially sabotaged Thai medical research and development based on cannabis.”