In October, the U.S. government issued Axim Biotechnologies Inc a patent for a cannabis-based suppository to treat irritable bowel syndrome.
Britain’s GW Pharmaceuticals Plc, which recently brought to market a drug derived from marijuana for epilepsy, is now seeking patent protection for another one to treat eczema.
With marijuana now fully legal in Canada and at least partially legalized in the majority of U.S. states, companies are rushing to patent new formulations of the age-old botanical. This year, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office has issued 39 patents containing the words cannabis or marijuana in their summaries, up from 29 in 2017 and 14 in 2016.
How well the patents hold up in court remains to be seen. If they do, a handful of companies could be in position to demand licensing fees from the rest of the industry.
The first U.S. case is now winding its way through the courts. In a July lawsuit, Colorado-based United Cannabis Corp , accused Pure Hemp Collective Inc of infringing its patent covering a liquid formulation with a high concentration of CBD, a non-psychoactive cannabis ingredient touted for its health benefits.
One of the key issues in this case and others, experts say, is whether the patent is overly broad or obvious in light of “prior art,” the existing level of science or technology against which an invention’s novelty can be judged.
Given the long history of experimentation with marijuana, patents claiming new formulations or methods of using the drug could have trouble withstanding legal challenges, said John Stewart, a board member at Canadian cannabis company Emblem Corp.
