MADISON, WI USA (August 23, 2022) Porta Sophia filed a third party observation with the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) today for the international patent application PCT/US2021/061235 entitled “Compositions and Methods for Treating Neurological Conditions”, which is currently assigned to Pharma America Holding Inc. The submission consisted of 5 prior art documents that are material to the patentability of 105 of 107 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 relevant historical documentation readily available for anyone wanting to explore the scope of psychedelic technologies, including patent examiners.
Porta Sophia also tracks and analyzes patent applications. If an application improperly claims innovation of something known in the public domain and meets all the standards of Porta Sophia's third party observation evaluation criteria, the team assembles evidence against these invalid claims and contests them directly to the WIPO through third party observations.
The ‘061235 application was filed on November 30, 2021 and claims priority to a provisional U.S. application filed on November 30, 2020. It describes the drug combination of psilocybin and cannabidiol (CBD) to treat neurological conditions, namely traumatic brain injuries (TBI), and symptoms such as pain, anxiety, or depression.
Prior art in the third-party observation included international and U.S. patent documents. This prior art addresses overly broad claims, including formulations comprising psilocybin and/or CBD to treat not only TBI but also a number of other conditions and their respective symptoms.
WIPO Patent Cooperation Treaty guidelines allow third parties to submit prior art and concise descriptions of their relevance to the WIPO. This ensures that the documents submitted will 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.