MADISON, WI USA (November 11, 2021) Porta Sophia today filed a third-party preissuance submission with the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) for U.S. Pat. App. Ser. No. 17/095,430 entitled “Compositions and Methods Comprising a Combination of Serotonergic Drugs”, which is currently assigned to the psychedelic drug company CaaMTech Inc. The submission consisted of 18 prior art documents that are material to the patentability of all claims of the application.
Porta Sophia, a non-profit psychedelic prior art library, leverages the experience of legal and interdisciplinary academic scholars to promote an ethical psychedelic patenting landscape that preserves the integrity of the public domain. The organization curates and makes readily available relevant historical documentation for anyone, including patent examiners, to explore the scope of psychedelic technologies.
Porta Sophia also analyzes patent applications. If an application improperly claims innovation of something known in the public domain, the team assembles evidence against these invalid claims and contests them directly to the USPTO through third-party preissuance submissions.
The ’430 application, filed on November 11, 2020 and claims priority to a provisional application filed on February 9, 2017, describes the use of a combination of serotonergic drugs for the purpose of regulating neurotransmitter activity of a subject in need of treatment for anxiety disorders, compulsive disorders, depressive disorders, or addiction. The serotonergic drugs and combinations thereof described within the claims include psilocybin, LSD, MDMA, ibogaine, and more than 50 additional psychedelic compounds. Additionally, combinations of these drugs with cannabinoids, benzodiazepines, and SSRIs are also claimed.
Prior art in the third-party preissuance submission included publications from peer reviewed journals, U.S. patent documents, books, and evidence published in public online forums. This prior art addresses overly broad claims, such as several claims describing the use of a combination of lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD) and 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA) - which has been thoroughly documented in both mainstream and underground research efforts.
The America Invents Act allows third parties to submit prior art and concise descriptions of their relevance to the USPTO. Documents submitted may be considered in the examination of that patent application. In addition, these submissions have a broad impact because applicants have a duty to disclose the prior art submitted against a single patent application for other relevant patent applications filed by the applicant.
Porta Sophia tracks and analyzes psychedelic patent applications globally. If an application improperly claims innovation of something known in the public domain and meets the standards of Porta Sophia's third party intervention evaluation criteria, the team assembles evidence against these invalid claims and contests them directly to the relevant patent office through third-party interventions.
Porta Sophia, meaning doorway to wisdom, is a non-profit psychedelic prior art library created to support good patents in the field of psychedelics. Based in Madison, Wisconsin USA, Porta Sophia identifies scientific, historical and cultural prior art in common and uncommon spaces and brings it together in one simple search tool for innovators and patent reviewers. The organization's mission is to protect the public domain, stimulate innovation, and support good patents to assure psychedelic therapies can one day be available at scale to the people who need them.
Porta Sophia works to support equity in the psychedelic field. The organization facilitates community engagement through encouraging submissions of prior art from the public and organizing an interdisciplinary Archival Researcher Network (ARN) to ensure quality psychedelic prior art is readily available to patent applicants, examiners, and those interested in psychedelic research.
To learn more about Porta Sophia's patent and prior art workflow or get involved, visit www.portasophia.org.