Porta Sophia in the News
February 16, 2023
Psychedelics might change mental healthcare. Will investors follow?
Global sales of antidepressant drugs are expected to exceed $20 billion by 2030. Now, some investors are betting that psychedelic therapies can grab a share of that enormous market.
Watch cNBC Special
October 25, 2022
With Promise of Legalization, Psychedelic Companies Joust Over Future Profits
Cash rich start-ups are filing scores of patent claims on hallucinogens like magic mushrooms. Researchers and patient advocates worry high prices will make the therapies unaffordable.
Read NYT Article
June 23, 2022
Judges Deny Challenge to Psilocybin Patent
The Patent Trial and Appeal Board decided that petitions against Compass Pathways' psilocybin patents would not move forward to trial.
Read VICE Article
April 25, 2022
A New Database Seeks to Prevent “Bad” Psychedelic Patents
Porta Sophia is building an online database and searchable library of historical, scientific and cultural information pertaining to psychedelics that they say will support the work of both innovators and patent examiners.
Read The Lucid News Article
April 14, 2022
Can the Clever Use of Old Legal Strategies Thwart Psychedelic Monopolies?
Corporations are going to use IP law to profit from psychedelics. But creative strategies from other industries could help people push back against exclusionary ownership and keep drugs accessible.
Read The VICE Article
February 28, 2022
The Microdose, 5 Questions for David Casimir
In the fall of 2020, longtime patent attorney David Casimir started a non-profit organization called Porta Sophia along with co-founder Bill Linton to fight what they consider to be “bad” patents on psychedelics...
Read The Microdose Interview
January 10, 2022
The American Prospect, Rollups: The Emerging Magic Mushroom Monopoly
Compass Pathways has been aggressively using patent claims to corner the market on psychedelic-assisted treatments.
Read American Prospect Article
January 5, 2022
VICE NEWS TONIGHT / S6 EP1
Shrooms could soon be legal in more places, and billions of dollars are in play. VICE News reports on whether psilocybin is doomed to become a therapy by and for the elite.
View Vice News Tonight / S6 EP1
December 29, 2021
Should psychedelics be patented?
A library of psychedelic knowledge, from clinical studies to turn of the century catalogs, may make psychedelic patents more fair.
Read Freethink* Article
New Filing Challenges Compass Pathways’ Infamous Patent on Synthetic Psilocybin
The non-profit Freedom to Operate used research from chemists and crystallographers to argue in a legal filing that Compass’ form of synthetic psilocybin is not a new invention.
Read Tech By VICE Article
Wisconsin Health News, Usona Institute's Linton Details New Campus, Psychedelic Research
In August, Fitchburg-based Usona Institute started construction on a campus that it hopes will become a global center for research on psilocybin and other consciousness-expanding medicines.
Read Wisconsin Health News Article
From the Archives Back to the Clinic: How Historians of Psychedelics are Protecting the Public Domain
There was a time when LSD and other vision-inducing psychedelic drugs were associated with the American counter-culture and for conservative observers with license and dissent …
Read Points History Article
Psychedelic Therapy: A Roadmap for Wider Acceptance and Utilization
Psychedelics have shown great promise in treating mental-health conditions, but their use is severely limited by legal obstacles, which could be overcome.
Read Nature Medicine Article
The Complicated Patenting of Our Psychedelic Future
There has been a surge in patents of psychedelic therapies. Some recent headlines have suggested that patent claims on psychedelics represent a sign that “capitalism has gone rogue.” Others suggest that investors are debating ownership of a psychedelic future.
Read Psychology Today Article
Can LSD Treat Food Allergies? We Don’t Know, But It’s Already Been Patented
Companies can own potentially valuable psychedelic IP without anyone even knowing if it works.
Read VICE Article
Psychedelics Patent Claim Raises Questions From Researchers Who Say They Did It First
A recent application from CB Therapeutics on biosynthetic psilocybin is emblematic of the IP concerns around novelty and obviousness the psychedelic field will face.
Read VICE Article
There’s a Land Grab for Psychedelic Patents: Here’s What We Can Do About It
Not everyone embraces the old psychedelic values of sharing and generosity. Today, as laws are changing, companies are filing a range of questionable patents that could let them control psychedelic molecules …
Read Psychedelic Times Article
COMPASS Pathways Is Trying to Patent Psilocybin for More Mental Health Conditions Than You Can Name
News that COMPASS Pathways is attempting to patent psychedelic therapy room specifications and therapist behaviors started an online firestorm about the company’s “monopolistic and shady behaviors,” …
Read Psymposia Article
Our Archival Researcher Network
By leveraging historical expertise about psychedelics, our network will help curate and increase access to disparate knowledge of psychedelic science, practice, and tradition. Ideal participants in the network will have experience with historical research on psychedelics; expertise with archival research is especially welcome.
Learn About Our Archival Researcher Network
