SIB - Società Italiana Brevetti

It is not possible to patent a medical or surgical treatment method for the human or animal body as such either in Italy or in Europe. However, it is possible to patent the use of substances for new medical uses, even though the substances are known.

If a substance is known, but no medical use is known for it, whoever discovers that use can patent the substance as a medicinal product. Moreover, if a substance is known as a medicinal product for treating illness X, whoever discovers that it can be used to treat illness Y may patent that substance for medical use for the treatment of illness Y.

The patenting of a medical application is justified by the discovery of any pharmacological effect either on man or on an animal model, including effects studied in vitro, if such an effect implies or is reasonably likely to result in a medical effect.

Biological material which is isolated from its natural environment or produced by means of a technical process may be the subject of an invention even if it previously occurred in nature. For instance enzymes; hybrid proteins; extraction mixtures; antigens; antibodies; growth factors; receivers.

No, combinations of chemical/physical parameters such as molecular weight, percentage composition, optical absorption spectrum, UV, NMR, mass, biological activity, function, can be sufficient to make the substance identifiable and therefore potentially patentable. It is also possible to define such a substance through the process for its obtainment.