MADISON, WI USA (February 25, 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. 17/604,610 entitled “TREATMENT OF DEPRESSION AND THEIR VARIOUS DISORDERS WITH PSILOCYBIN”, which is currently assigned to the psychedelic drug company COMPASS Pathways. The submission consisted of 39 prior art documents that are material to the patentability of all 162 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 COMPASS Pathways application, filed on October 18, 2021 and claiming priority to a number of provisional applications filed in 2019, describes the treatment of depressive disorders or one of their signs or symptoms with psilocybin to a subject in need thereof. The application includes claims specific to the drug, its purity, dosage, dosage regimen, delivery method, formulation, and the set and setting in which it is delivered.
Prior art in the third-party preissuance submission included publications from peer reviewed journals, domestic and foreign patent documents, product descriptions, industry guidelines, news reports, documents from post grant review filings against this same party, and evidence published in public online forums. This prior art addresses overly broad claims that have been well established in the public domain and, if granted, risks inhibiting psychedelic product development. These claims include claims regarding set and setting, such as using an eye mask or administering psilocybin in a room with muted colors containing “soft furniture” like a bed or couch.
"The breadth of these claims is surprising given COMPASS' knowledge of the field,” says David Casimir, patent attorney and co-founder of Porta Sophia. “They must know those claims are not novel.”
The America Invents Act allows third parties to submit prior art and concise descriptions of their relevance to the USPTO. 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 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 get involved or learn more, visit www.portasophia.org.
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, WI 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. To learn more, visit www.portasophia.org.