Traditional remedies derived from plant leaves, bark, roots, and ancestral knowledge offer therapeutic solutions for numerous ailments worldwide. In Africa, as in other regions such as Asia, they constitute a genuine alternative to modern medicine. It is therefore not surprising that the African Intellectual Property Organization (OAPI) receives a large number of patent applications for inventions stemming from traditional medicine—a reality shared by other intellectual property offices around the world, notably those of India, Japan, and China.
It is within this context that the cooperation between OAPI and the China National Intellectual Property Administration (CNIPA) takes place. From June 22 to 26, 2026, a workshop on best practices for examining inventions derived from traditional medicine was held in Yaoundé, at OAPI headquarters.
Chinese expertise at the service of sharing experience
The workshop brought together patent examiners from OAPI and two recognized Chinese experts in the field:
- Mr. ZHANG Zhonghui, First-level Consultant at the Department of Pharmaceutical and Biological Invention Examination;
- Mr. LU Han, Fourth-level Consultant at the Department of Reexamination and Invalidation of CNIPA.
On the agenda for discussion
The work provided an opportunity to present the respective examination systems of OAPI and CNIPA, and to share experiences on several essential technical aspects of examining patent applications related to traditional medicine, including:
- traditional medicine databases;
- research on the state of the art;
- the classification of inventions;
- the examination of patentability criteria.
This technical cooperation illustrates the shared desire of OAPI and CNIPA to strengthen the quality of patent examination in a strategic area for public health and innovation, while promoting traditional knowledge as a source of protectable innovation.
