Patenting psychedelic medicines
Patenting medications provides manufacturers with a period of market exclusivity, to incentivise drug development by enabling the company to monopolise sales.
In the UK and North America, new drugs are patented upon discovery, rather than regulation, with a patent term of 20 years.
MDMA was first patented in 1914, LSD in 1957 and psilocybin in 1963, so the patents governing their use have long since expired.
As a result, companies are creating novel psychedelic compounds and formulations, based on classic tryptamines, which can be patented, and are regulating these through clinical trials.