有朋友问:“我在美国行中医，有自己的诊所…我也有很好的治疗青春痘的药，想开发出产品，不知能否在美国申请专利？”
首先，完成任务，回答问题。答案是能。
其次，请允许我借此机会稍微展开一点谈。中药专利问题是一个沉重的话题。传统中药曾经为我们的父辈们服务了几千年，至今还在为我们服务，我们没有理由不感激中药和珍爱中药。传统中药是古老的，东方的，经验的，有时候还搞迷信。相对而言，专利制度却实是年轻的，西方的(就起源来说)，与近代科技相关的。传统中药在专利制度中面临一些西药通常不会面对的问题，比如说，在干部能上这方面，传统中药会比西药多吃点亏，CLAIM无法写得完全像西药的。举一个例子，西药对活性化合物的确认，表征，合成要更精确，对药物组合物的成分确定和定量也要更准确。西药对药理和毒理的研究也更细致深入。因为我前面还没有详细谈干部能上的问题，所以这篇短文先给朋友们举例说明一下中药专利申请中干部能下的问题。
去年六月分，美国专利局给广东的李大夫批了一个中药专利。这个中药是用来治疗风湿性关节炎的。我们来研究一些片段，欣赏一下李大夫是如何干部能下，教会普姑娘如何制造和使用他的发明的。这样大家对干部下到什么程度，有个真实而具体的感觉。
李大夫先告诉普姑娘，这副中药含九味药材，各是什么，各可从哪些省份找到，各是多少克(与时俱进，不用钱两)。九味药材是威灵仙，独活，羌活，防风或旁风，秦艽，当归，川芎，杜仲，牛膝。李大夫先告诉普姑娘什么样的植物用作威灵仙: The dried root of Clematis chinensis Osbeck, Clematis hexapetala Pall., Clematis uhcinata Champ., Clematis armandi Franch., Clematis uncinata Champ. Ex Benth., Clematis meyeniana Walp., Clematis henryi Oliv., Clematis finetiana Levl. Et Vant., Clematis manshurica or Clematis paniculata Thunb. Rupr was used in the first herbal composition. The Radix Clematidis is also harvested from the root of Smilax scobinicaulis C. H. Wright, Smilax Stans Maxim., Smilax sieboldi Miq., Veronicastrum sibiricum (L.) Pennell, or Inula nervosa Wall. 李大夫告诉普姑娘这些药材在中国的哪些省份可以找到: The roots were obtained from the Jiangsu, Anhui, Zhejiang, Shandong, Sichuan, Guangdong, and Fujian provinces of China. 余八味药材的内容同理，在此省略。
李大夫先接着告诉普姑娘九味药材的配方: Radix Clematidis 12 g Radix Angelicae Pubescentis 10 g Rhizoma et Radix Notopterygii 10 g Radix Saposhnikoviae 10 g Radix Gentianae Macrophyllae 10 g Radix Angelicae Sinensis 20 g Rhizoma Chuanxiong 15 g Cortex Eucommiae 10 g Radix Achyranthis Bidentatae 10 g. 一步一步如何配制中药胶囊: a. Individually weigh the herbs; b. Wash and dry the herbs; c. Cut the dried herbs into small pieces. d. Grind the dry herbs into powder; f. Pass the powder through an about 100 mesh; g. Pour about 0.3 g of the powder into a capsule. 一步一步如何配制中药药酒: a. Put 700 kg powder prepared in (I) into a 5000 L container; b. Add 3500 L 50 degree liquor into the container and stir every 2 hours for 3 days(搅拌三天，真不容易); c. Add 1500 L water into the container and stir every 2 hours for 3 days(又搅拌三天); d. Filtrate residue and collect the supernatant.
如何用药酒对比治疗一组风湿性关节炎患者: Observe group, 20 patients, was treated with ARL (30 ml/d). It was taken before sleep or equally divided to be taken in the morning and evening. In the mean time, active control group, 20 patients, was treated with the combination of Methotrexate (MTX) (once a week, 7.5 mg), Mian IV (a recipe contain 28 ingredients, a house made medicine for RA in this hospital, one preparation per day) and one NSAID, such as Fenbid, Arthrotec, etc. 疗效reportedly显著，在此省略。
如何用中药胶囊对比治疗一组风湿性关节炎患者: Thirty-six (36) typical active RA patients were selected and randomly divided into two groups. Observe group, 18 patients, was treated with ARC (4 capsules t.i.d., each capsule is about 0.3 g). In the mean time, 18 patients in the active control group were treated with the combination of Methotrexate (once a week, 10 mg), Folic acid (daily, 5 mg) and Arthrotec (b.i.d. 50 mg). 疗效reportedly显著，在此省略。
李大夫特别描述了一位令人同情的长达20年的风湿性关节炎患者，手肿得很厉害，什么也干不成: The patient was a 53 years old male farmer with about 20 years RA history…The patient complained long duration of morning stiffness, rest pain, fatigue and apparent swelling on his hand. He was most of time staying in bed. 中药药酒疗效reportedly显著，有手照片对比，在此省略。
想仔细研究这个专利的朋友，可以进一步查阅美国专利7553506. 有问题但不想公开交流，请使用gu.rhonda@yahoo.com
