Happy Friday, and welcome back to The Microdose. Here’s the news of the week:
A deep dive into a puzzling patent. Three weeks ago, we covered a patent application intellectual property lawyer Matt Zorn called “hot psilocybin patent garbage.” This week, Zorn has published a two-part essay in his newsletter On Drugs, which walks readers through yet another confounding patent application. This patent was filed by Yale researchers to cover the use of “an effective amount of a psychedelic” for cluster headache disorders, and in reviewing the claims, Zorn presents evidence that they don’t meet the patent criteria for being “novel.” Some claims in the patent application are invalid because the discoveries were previously established in the filers’ own published research, Zorn explained. Some even appeared in popular media, like the TV show House. Zorn’s takeaway is similar to his conclusion from his last patent breakdown: it seems researchers are trying to patent their own prior work.
As Zorn dug into the patent application, he discovered a strange twist: Carey Turnbull, an outspoken challenger of “bad patents,” and his non-profit Freedom to Operate, were listed among the assignees of the patent. (Read The Microdose’s 5 Questions for Carey Turnbull.) Zorn reached out to Turnbull to ask why he was involved with the patent, and it seems the application may be intended to serve as a “defensive patent” to block others from patenting it and then limiting access to use by other parties. Turnbull and others are signatories of an Open Science pledge, which vows, among other things, to “make decisions for the common good rather than for private gain,” and to license intellectual property for no more than reasonable administrative costs “to anyone who will use it for the common good.”
“The Open Science pledge is a laudable document,” Zorn writes. “But as the lawyer in the room, let [me] break some bad news to everyone: it is toothless and carries no legal force or effect.” The document makes lofty promises, he writes, but it “binds signatories in the same way promising to be monogamous prevents cheating: it doesn’t.”
Mail-order ketamine. At the beginning of the month, psychedelic company Innerwell announced that they’ll be offering virtual ketamine-assisted therapy. Innerwell is partnering with psychedelic-assisted therapy training company Fluence, who will train 10 to 15 clinicians that will then offer guidance to patients prescribed mail-order ketamine. During the pandemic, this kind of telehealth has become more popular, especially as federal and state governments loosened requirements that drugs be prescribed in person. In May, The Microdose covered the U.S. Department of Justice’s investigation of mental health start-up Cerebral for potential violations of the Controlled Substances Act. Cerebral provided mail-order medications — including scheduled drugs — to patients with ADHD; that case could have implications for other mail-order medication companies. (Cerebral has since laid off employees.) Companies like Innerwell are betting that COVID-era telehealth policies remain in place.
There has never been a more exciting – or bewildering – time in the world of psychedelics. Don’t miss a beat.
A free newsletter from the U.C. Berkeley Center for the Science of Psychedelics
No-frills DMT treatment. In psychedelic-assisted therapy, researchers often talk about the importance of “set and setting” — the mindset and environment of a person entering a psychedelic experience. But a new paper published in the journal Neuropsychopharmacology eschews the central role of set and setting. In a very small study, researchers affiliated with Yale and the VA Connecticut Healthcare System studied the effects of DMT on 10 people: seven who had been diagnosed with treatment-resistant depression, and three without such a diagnosis. Participants were injected with DMT “in a medical-grade reclining chair and a desk that was lit with overhead fluorescent lighting,” the author wrote. “There was no art adorning the room and no music was played.” Psychiatrists and nurses were on hand and asked the participant how they felt, but they provided no psychotherapy. Unlike drugs like MDMA and psilocybin which last hours, DMT typically lasts around half an hour, so this model of treatment — a hospital setting, no therapy provided — could be more appealing to efficiency-minded healthcare systems.
Again, the number of participants in this study was small, but the researchers concluded that providing this type of DMT was, overall, safe, and they reported that participants had lower depression scores the day after treatment. How long that effect lasts will require further research, and is crucial to understanding how viable this no-frills treatment might be.
Canada’s first psychedelic trade organization. A group of Canadian organizations have formed a new psychedelics trade association called Psychedelics Canada. Its members include non-profit TheraPsil, which connects patients with psilocybin-assisted therapy and has been pressuring the Canadian government for greater access to the drug, as well as companies like Cybin and Filament Health. In a press release, Psychedelics Canada says member companies are “devoted to collective action,” and in particular, to advancing research and development of psychedelic drugs. As the psychedelics industry grows, we might see similar groups form elsewhere to leverage their resources and power to influence policies and regulations.
‘Shroom aesthetics. As the idea of psychedelic-assisted therapy enters the cultural mainstream, the drugs have influenced another aspect of culture as well: design. For decades, psychedelic design has been reminiscent of the 1960s and 70s – think swirling tie-dye and kaleidoscopic neon colors. But with the resurgence of psychedelics’ popularity, artists are putting a modern spin on psychedelic designs.
Surface, a magazine covering art, architecture, and fashion, writes that mushrooms have become the design world’s “new It motif.” Famed designer Stella McCartney’s summer 2022 photoshoot takes place in a playground of giant mushrooms; make-up company Glossier decorated their brick-and-mortar store in Seattle with mossy rocks dotted with colorful fungi.
Glossier’s Seattle store (photo credit: Jane C. Hu)
Business Insider published a list of “power players” in Oregon’s burgeoning psilocybin industry.
You’re all caught up! Have a great weekend. We’re observing Juneteenth on Monday, so we’ll be back in your inboxes on Tuesday with a new issue of 5 Questions.
If you know anyone who might like the latest on psychedelics in their inbox, feel free to forward this to them, or click below.
Share this post
This Week in Psychedelics: Mail-order ketamine, a puzzling patent, and DMT under fluorescent lights
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Happy Friday, and welcome back to The Microdose. Here’s the news of the week:
A deep dive into a puzzling patent. Three weeks ago, we covered a patent application intellectual property lawyer Matt Zorn called “hot psilocybin patent garbage.” This week, Zorn has published a two-part essay in his newsletter On Drugs, which walks readers through yet another confounding patent application. This patent was filed by Yale researchers to cover the use of “an effective amount of a psychedelic” for cluster headache disorders, and in reviewing the claims, Zorn presents evidence that they don’t meet the patent criteria for being “novel.” Some claims in the patent application are invalid because the discoveries were previously established in the filers’ own published research, Zorn explained. Some even appeared in popular media, like the TV show House. Zorn’s takeaway is similar to his conclusion from his last patent breakdown: it seems researchers are trying to patent their own prior work.
As Zorn dug into the patent application, he discovered a strange twist: Carey Turnbull, an outspoken challenger of “bad patents,” and his non-profit Freedom to Operate, were listed among the assignees of the patent. (Read The Microdose’s 5 Questions for Carey Turnbull.) Zorn reached out to Turnbull to ask why he was involved with the patent, and it seems the application may be intended to serve as a “defensive patent” to block others from patenting it and then limiting access to use by other parties. Turnbull and others are signatories of an Open Science pledge, which vows, among other things, to “make decisions for the common good rather than for private gain,” and to license intellectual property for no more than reasonable administrative costs “to anyone who will use it for the common good.”
“The Open Science pledge is a laudable document,” Zorn writes. “But as the lawyer in the room, let [me] break some bad news to everyone: it is toothless and carries no legal force or effect.” The document makes lofty promises, he writes, but it “binds signatories in the same way promising to be monogamous prevents cheating: it doesn’t.”
Mail-order ketamine. At the beginning of the month, psychedelic company Innerwell announced that they’ll be offering virtual ketamine-assisted therapy. Innerwell is partnering with psychedelic-assisted therapy training company Fluence, who will train 10 to 15 clinicians that will then offer guidance to patients prescribed mail-order ketamine. During the pandemic, this kind of telehealth has become more popular, especially as federal and state governments loosened requirements that drugs be prescribed in person. In May, The Microdose covered the U.S. Department of Justice’s investigation of mental health start-up Cerebral for potential violations of the Controlled Substances Act. Cerebral provided mail-order medications — including scheduled drugs — to patients with ADHD; that case could have implications for other mail-order medication companies. (Cerebral has since laid off employees.) Companies like Innerwell are betting that COVID-era telehealth policies remain in place.
There has never been a more exciting – or bewildering – time in the world of psychedelics. Don’t miss a beat.
A free newsletter from the U.C. Berkeley Center for the Science of Psychedelics
No-frills DMT treatment. In psychedelic-assisted therapy, researchers often talk about the importance of “set and setting” — the mindset and environment of a person entering a psychedelic experience. But a new paper published in the journal Neuropsychopharmacology eschews the central role of set and setting. In a very small study, researchers affiliated with Yale and the VA Connecticut Healthcare System studied the effects of DMT on 10 people: seven who had been diagnosed with treatment-resistant depression, and three without such a diagnosis. Participants were injected with DMT “in a medical-grade reclining chair and a desk that was lit with overhead fluorescent lighting,” the author wrote. “There was no art adorning the room and no music was played.” Psychiatrists and nurses were on hand and asked the participant how they felt, but they provided no psychotherapy. Unlike drugs like MDMA and psilocybin which last hours, DMT typically lasts around half an hour, so this model of treatment — a hospital setting, no therapy provided — could be more appealing to efficiency-minded healthcare systems.
Again, the number of participants in this study was small, but the researchers concluded that providing this type of DMT was, overall, safe, and they reported that participants had lower depression scores the day after treatment. How long that effect lasts will require further research, and is crucial to understanding how viable this no-frills treatment might be.
Canada’s first psychedelic trade organization. A group of Canadian organizations have formed a new psychedelics trade association called Psychedelics Canada. Its members include non-profit TheraPsil, which connects patients with psilocybin-assisted therapy and has been pressuring the Canadian government for greater access to the drug, as well as companies like Cybin and Filament Health. In a press release, Psychedelics Canada says member companies are “devoted to collective action,” and in particular, to advancing research and development of psychedelic drugs. As the psychedelics industry grows, we might see similar groups form elsewhere to leverage their resources and power to influence policies and regulations.
‘Shroom aesthetics. As the idea of psychedelic-assisted therapy enters the cultural mainstream, the drugs have influenced another aspect of culture as well: design. For decades, psychedelic design has been reminiscent of the 1960s and 70s – think swirling tie-dye and kaleidoscopic neon colors. But with the resurgence of psychedelics’ popularity, artists are putting a modern spin on psychedelic designs.
Surface, a magazine covering art, architecture, and fashion, writes that mushrooms have become the design world’s “new It motif.” Famed designer Stella McCartney’s summer 2022 photoshoot takes place in a playground of giant mushrooms; make-up company Glossier decorated their brick-and-mortar store in Seattle with mossy rocks dotted with colorful fungi.
Business Insider published a list of “power players” in Oregon’s burgeoning psilocybin industry.
Lucid News reports on the growing popularity of psychedelic NFTs.
You’re all caught up! Have a great weekend. We’re observing Juneteenth on Monday, so we’ll be back in your inboxes on Tuesday with a new issue of 5 Questions.
If you know anyone who might like the latest on psychedelics in their inbox, feel free to forward this to them, or click below.
Share The Microdose
Got tips? Email us at themicrodose@berkeley.edu.