MADISON, WI USA (November 7, 2025) Porta Sophia filed a third-party preissuance submissions with the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) today for U.S. Pat. App. Ser. No. 19/020,135 entitled “EFFECTS OF LYSERGIC ACID DIETHYLAMIDE (LSD) AND OF LSD ANALOGS TO ASSIST PSYCHOTHERAPY FOR GENERALIZED ANXIETY DISORDER OR OTHER ANXIETY NOT RELATED TO LIFE-THREATENING ILLNESS”, which is currently assigned to UNIVERSITÄTSSPITAL BASEL. The submissions consisted of three prior art documents that are material to the patentability of 15 remaining 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.
Patent application: LSD for the treatment of Generalized Anxiety Disorder
The ’135 application was filed on January 14, 2025. It describes methods of using LSD (25–400 μg) to reduce State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI-global) scores, with an optional second dose 4–5 weeks later, including for patients with co-present depression. The application also claims reduced psychological distress and improved quality of life. It claims that psychotherapy is provided on separate days before and after dosing, with LSD asserted to enhance therapy. It also claims that sessions occur with a therapist present for ~12 hours in a quiet room (patient reclining or seated, listening to music).
Prior art in the third-party preissuance submission included three peer reviewed journal articles. This prior art anticipates claims in the ’135 application. The full third-party submission documentation is available here.
Third-party submissions of prior art
United States patent law 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.
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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.