Can a treatment method for a disease be patented?

The current Patent Law of the People's Republic of China (PRC) stipulates that methods of diagnosis and treatment of diseases are not patentable. However, with respect to this provision, the Patent Examination Guidelines state that the apparatus or device used to carry out the method of diagnosis and treatment of a disease, as well as the substance or material used in the method of diagnosis and treatment of a disease, are among the objects for which patents may be granted. That is, when the technical solution of the innovation is a diagnostic or therapeutic method of a disease, although the diagnostic or therapeutic method of the disease itself is not patentable, the apparatus or device used to carry out the diagnostic and therapeutic method of the disease, and the substance or material used in the diagnostic and therapeutic method of the disease are patentable. It is to be noted that while the method of treating a disease using a drug is not patentable, the drug itself is patentable.