Cannabis patent requests to be considered after New Year

A formal discussion on requests to patent marijuana extract submitted to the Department of Intellectual Property (DIP) will be held after the New Year holiday, Commerce Minister Sontirat Sontijirawong said on Wednesday.

The ministry is planning to invite various agencies to attend the discussion. He was asked earlier about the impact of granting the patents on the government's plan to develop marijuana for medical purposes.

The concerns were raised after the National Legislative Assembly (NLA) passed a bill to legalise the controlled production, import and use of marijuana and kratom for medical and research purposes on Tuesday, which many feared will benefit large, foreign pharmaceutical companies.

The DIP has received 31 marijuana-related patent requests, which includes one request to patent marijuana extracts, 10 requests to patent marijuana-based treatment methods, and 20 requests to patent synthetic substances that mimic marijuana, said Mr Sontirat.

He also assured the DIP is handling the patent requests in a prudent and transparent manner.

Meanwhile, Biodiversity Sustainable Agriculture Food Sovereignty Action Thailand (Biothai) claimed on its Facebook page that the DIP has yet to reject three requests to patent marijuana extracts, despite claims to the contrary by Mr Sontirat.

The advocacy group said that the approval of these patent requests -- which are among the 10 requests that Biothai and a network of pharmaceutical company claim to be unlawful under the 2009 Intellectual Property Act -- can be damaging to the country's economy.

Biothai said that the because the patents are still being considered by the DIP, other organisations -- including the Government Pharmaceutical Organisation and universities -- are barred from conducting any similar research, as applicants and their researches are protected under existing laws.

Separately, the Office of the Narcotics Control Board secretary-general, Niyom Termsrisuk, said only the use of marijuana for medical and research purposes will be allowed.