The Six Main Psychedelics With Promising Clinical Uses

?By Dale Hunt, PhD, JD – Hunt IP Law?

Sorting it Out

As this blog series explores patenting and psychedelics, it’s important first to list and differentiate among the major kinds of psychedelics. Some are natural, some are synthetic. Some have been studied much more thoroughly than others. And they have varying uses and modes of action.

There are far too many chemical variants among what could be classified as psychedelics for a brief blog post to cover more than just the major ones (which I’ll call the Main 6): DMT, ibogaine, LSD, MDMA, mescaline/peyote, and psilocybin. In addition, there are various ways of categorizing even just the Main 6. This table is a useful reference to organize and refer to some of the different ways of classifying them.

??Patenting possibilities and surprises

Because this blog series is about patenting psychedelics, the divide between natural and synthetic says something about potential patentability, although that question may play out in a way that will surprise some readers.?

Since products of nature are not patentable, one might think that there would be no room for patenting with any of the natural psychedelics (DMT, ibogaine, peyote/mescaline, psilocybin). It is true that the natural substance itself, without some modification, cannot be patented. However, new varieties of plants or fungi that produce the substances can be patented.?

What makes a variety new enough for patenting has been discussed in other blog posts that are found here. This question also will be discussed in an upcoming post specifically about patenting new varieties (or strains) of fungi.

Another fact that may be surprising to some is that the synthetic compounds among the Main 6, LSD and MDMA, cannot be patented. Of course, there is no rule against patenting synthetic compounds. The bar to patentability of these compounds is simply that they are no longer new enough for patenting, having been published many years ago. However, there are still many viable approaches to patenting in this space, including chemical variants, new combinations, and other inventions relating to LSD and MDMA. This will also be the subject of a later post.

This is the second in a series of blog posts on patenting and psychedelics. Watch this space for additional posts on topics of interest in psychedelics and intellectual property. If you have specific requests or suggestions for topics to be covered, please send me an email: [email protected].

Disclaimer

The opinions expressed here are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect those of his professional colleagues or his clients. Nothing in this post should be construed as legal advice. Meaningful legal advice can only be provided by taking into consideration specific facts in view of the relevant law.

? 2025 – Hunt IP Law