VIET NAM ENCOURAGES PATENTS OF HERBAL MEDICINES

Pharmaceuticals made of herbs account for just 2 percent total of the patents on medicines registered so far in Viet Nam, said the Viet Nam Intellectual Property Department. The figure was released at a recent seminar in HCM City on the protection of traditional knowledge sponsored jointly by the department and the Swiss Intellectual Property Institute (IPI). The rate is almost nothing compared with Viet Nam's huge collection of traditional medicines, which in 2003 already boasted more than 39,380 formulas based on medicinal recipes from 54 ethnic groups across the country, according to the World Health Organisation (WHO).

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