The curious case of Wuhan’s Institute of Virology and remdesivir

20-04-2021

Thomas Moga

The curious case of Wuhan’s Institute of Virology and remdesivir

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Changes to China’s patent laws and a filing by a Wuhan lab involving Gilead’s remdesivir have set up an interesting patent race, says Thomas Moga of Dykema.

The Patent Law of the People’s Republic of China first went into effect on April 1, 1985. It has been amended three times with a fourth amendment scheduled to take effect on June 1, 2021.

The Chinese patent system includes an invention patent, similar to the utility patent of the US. The invention patent application is substantively examined by patent examiners to determine if the invention is novel, inventive, and has “practical applicability”.

The author found that personal interviews with Chinese patent examiners can be effective in advancing prosecution because many examination problems are the result of translation confusion.


Virology, remdesivir, patent laws, Wuhan, novel, utility model, biotechnology, FDA, generics, COVID-19, Gilead

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