MADISON, WI USA (April 14, 2022) 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. 17/238,088 entitled “MDMA TREATMENT TO ENHANCE ACUTE EMOTIONAL EFFECTS PROFILE OF LSD, PSILOCYBIN, OR OTHER PSYCHEDELICS”, which is currently assigned to the University of Basel. The submission consisted of 21 prior art documents that are material to the patentability of the application’s 28 claims.
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 patent examiners and the public alike to explore the scope of psychedelic technologies.
Porta Sophia also tracks and analyzes psychedelic 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 application, filed on April 22, 2021 and claiming priority to provisional application filed on May 5, 2020, describes the administration of a psychedelic and an empathogen, which will enhance a positive response to the psychedelic, to an individual with a neuropsychological disorder. The application includes claims relating to method of treatment, drug dose, drug administration order, and formulation.
Prior art in the third-party preissuance submission included peer reviewed scientific publications, international patent documents, a scientific textbook, and online public forums and articles. This prior art addresses overly broad claims that have been well established in the public domain and, if granted, risks inhibiting access to psychedelic research, treatment, product development, and funding. These claims include the coadministration MDMA (an empathogen) to enhance a positive emotional response to LSD (a psychedelic) - a combination so common in both underground psychological research and recreational use that it has been given the colloquial name “candyflipping.”
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.