With the selection of the 2025 Nobel Prize laureate(s) in Physiology or Medicine (NPPM) now in the evaluation phase, it is worth revisiting 2024’s winners and ruminating the impact their discovery has had on patent applications filed in Singapore and the Philippines. The 2024 NPPM was jointly awarded to scientists Victor Ambros and Gary Ruvkun “for the discovery of microRNA (microribonucleic acid) and its role in post-transcriptional gene regulation”.
For the uninitiated in molecular biology, the following analogy is provided for better understanding microRNA. Consider the human body as a large restaurant kitchen. Deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA), molecules that carries genetic information for the development and functioning of the body can then be considered here as a “master cookbook”, containing all “recipes” required for the body’s functions. mRNA (messenger ribonucleic acid: molecules containing the “recipe” directing cells of the body to make a protein), is then thus a “recipe card” copied from the “master cookbook”, handed to one of several “chefs” (cells), who then knows exactly the steps to prepare a “dish” [i.e. a protein required by the body for its proper function(s)]. Hence, microribonucleic acid (abbreviated either as microRNA / miRNA), molecules involved in controlling cells in terms of the kinds and amounts of proteins to make, can be likened to a “head chef” managing quality control in the kitchen (body), checking the “recipe card” (mRNA) and ensuring for example, that the kitchen does not make too much of a “dish” (protein), or does not make it at the wrong time.
Since Ambros’ and Ruvkun’s discovery of the first microRNA in 1993, many more microRNAs have been discovered since then, and with them, the filing of patent applications worldwide related to microRNA for various industrial uses. A random selection of two patent applications filed at the Intellectual Property Office of Singapore (IPOS) and one filed at the Intellectual Property Office of the Philippines (IPOPHL) are showcased below.
Improving the detection of gastric cancer
A Singapore-headquartered biotechnology company has applied the discovery of microRNA to the improved detection of gastric cancer. Conventionally, the detection of gastric cancer involves patients undergoing an endoscopy, where a tube with a camera attached at the end is routed to the stomach and observed for suspicious areas indicating cancer, followed by a biopsy, where a small part of stomach tissue is cut out for laboratory analysis. However, such detection methods are invasive and uncomfortable, and extensive experience is required to differentiate cancerous tissue from healthy tissue at early stages of the disease. The company’s patent application at IPOS to address this comes after their research yielded findings that a certain combination of 12 microRNA types were distinctly either up-regulated or down-regulated in gastric cancer patients compared to a control (i.e. non-cancer) group of patients. Based on their findings, a kit was developed to enable specific detection of expression levels of the combination of the 12 microRNA types in a blood sample of a patient, and comparing them with a non-cancer control sample in order to determine the possibility of the patient suffering from, or at risk of suffering from gastric cancer.
See Singapore Patent Application No. 11202112095V: MicroRNA Marker Combination for Diagnosing Gastric Cancer and Diagnostic Kit
Prevention is better than cure: Modifying microRNA levels with multivitamins
In another Singapore application, a Singapore-based manufacturer of nutrition and wellness products has provided an enhanced version of the humble multivitamin. Traditionally, multivitamin formulations are consumed as preventative measures against various dreaded conditions, including cancer and cardiovascular disease (CVD). However, it had been found in several studies that most multivitamin supplement formulations are found to have little influence in preventing cancer and CVD. To address this issue, the manufacturer has provided a composition capable of beneficially modifying levels of one or more microRNAs implicated in preventing cancer and CVD. The composition includes a combination of at least ten plant-based ingredients in recommended amounts that have been scientifically validated to sufficiently interact with various microRNA, which in turn beneficially regulate various genes, thus lowering the risk of cancer and CVD. These ingredients include polyphenols from grapes and apples, proanthocyanidins from cranberries and epigallocatechin gallate from green tea.
See Singapore Patent Application No. 11201900830Q: Multivitamin Capable of Beneficial Gene Regulation Through MicroRNA (miRNA)
Plants Resistant to Toppling in Adverse Environmental Conditions
The application of microRNA discovery is also relevant to plants. An institute under China’s national agricultural scientific research organization has addressed the issue of plants, specifically maize, from easily toppling in adverse environmental conditions, often found in crops with decreased stem strength in fields where excessive quantities of chemical nitrogen fertilizer are used. To address this issue, the institute’s patent application with the IPOPHL is a method of decreasing the expression or activity of a plant-specific microRNA 528 (miR528) in maize by genetic modification. miR528 is responsible for inhibiting the function of enzymes known as laccases which are key in ensuring mechanical strength of the stems of maize plants. By downregulating miR528, laccases are free to abundantly increase the production of a polymer called lignin in the stems of plants, lignin being especially important in crop plants to maintain structural rigidity to prevent toppling in strong winds, thus improving harvest yield.
See Philippine Patent Application No. 1-2020-550486: Lodging Resistance in Plants
With about 2,000 microRNAs discovered in humans alone so far, it is worth emphasizing in the context of patent law that the discovery of a microRNA itself does not constitute an invention that is patentable. Indeed, the patent examination guidelines of Singapore and the Philippines make it abundantly clear that a mere discovery of a material already existing in nature are not patent-eligible subject matter. To have a possibility of patent protection for a discovered microRNA, there should be, to quote from the IPOS Examination Guidelines: “something more”. This “something more” could be for example, in the form of a specific use of the microRNA, or modification of the microRNA for a particular industrial application. The first microRNA discovery back in 1993 can thus be seen as a spark that has triggered massive interest among the scientific community worldwide to harness the benefits of microRNAs in the service of medicine and other meaningful industrial uses.