Vitality files international PCT patent application for cannabinoid pharmaceuticals

The Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT) is an international patent law treaty, which provides a unified procedure for filing patent applications to protect inventions in each of its member states.

Vitality Biopharma’s patent filing includes details that were previously submitted in three separate U.S. provisional applications, and includes 79 patent claims and almost 200 individual compounds, including novel glycoside prodrugs of the most abundant phytocannabinoids, THC and cannabidiol (CBD), as well as a variety of other phytocannabinoids and endocannabinoids.

The patent application includes additional compounds, such as vanilloids, a class of molecules that could provide sustained pain relief through targeting of the TRPV1 receptor, and enzymatic biosynthesis methods that the Company uses internally for drug manufacturing.

There are 151 member countries within the PCT worldwide, so near global patent coverage can be obtained through successful patent prosecution in the U.S., Japan, Europe, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, China, Brazil, Russia, India, and many other countries. 

The original priority date for this filing was September 22, 2015, therefore coverage of any underlying patent claims would extend for 20 years until 2035 in the United States, and may be subject to patent term extensions that would enable years of additional protection.

Vitality Biopharma CEO Robert Brooke said: “This is a significant milestone enabled by our team’s discovery and production of a versatile new portfolio of cannabinoid pharmaceuticals.

“The clinical data emerging on the use of cannabinoids for inflammatory bowel disease, opiate addiction, and many other serious disorders is inspiring, and our team is now working internally and through collaborators to develop key therapeutic applications for our compounds.”