Baclofen Patent in 1979 for Anxiety, Neurosis, and Alcoholism

[Jazi's Mum]

Baclofen Patent in 1979 for Anxiety, Neurosis, and Alcoholism

I don't understand why we get our shorts in a twist because someone files a patent - TO MAKE MONEY!

Golly gee. I for one didn't go to work for the good of mankind. I went to make money. If Dr. Ameinsen had continued with his bid for a balcofen patent and made a ton of money, I'd have been very happy for him. I don't think he said why he didn't continue with the patent he mentions in his book. So it is less than useless to keep speculating on it.
JMum

Of course there are those who charge exorbitant amounts of money, or gouge the poor and helpless or screw people in other ways to make MORE money. But that's called greed or avarice.

[Mandiekinz]

Baclofen Patent in 1979 for Anxiety, Neurosis, and Alcoholism

Jazi- I was talking about big pharma and corporations. Not about Ameisen and other inventors.

I was in no way implying that everyone works and creates out of their love for it.

[squeezed]

Baclofen Patent in 1979 for Anxiety, Neurosis, and Alcoholism

Use some common sense here:

So every time a doctor uses a drug outside of FDA approval can be patented? That's like a thousand times a day.

You guys really should get a grip. There is no grand conspiracy to deny you as much baclofen as you want. Most docs do not have a financial interest in rehab centers. Almost all docs would be happy to to give you a script to cure you of your alcoholism, so they never see you again.

It is easy enough to finagle baclofen into a patented form, yet no BigPharm has done it commercially for alcoholism, autism, or anything else. Why? Because they are all out to get you. Or not.

[squeezed]

Baclofen Patent in 1979 for Anxiety, Neurosis, and Alcoholism

What if I come up with a treatment for aspergers: one cup of fresh carrot juice 3 times a day, with 2 oz shaved walnuts 30 minutes after the first carrot juice only. And one cup of genuine Coca-Cola at sunset. I am absolutely sure that this will work for some, but not alll. The only reason that this treatment hasn't caught on is due to a conspiracy of docs/BigPharm/Aspergers industry.

Can I patent that? Do you guys know how ridiculous you sound/

[Cassander]

Baclofen Patent in 1979 for Anxiety, Neurosis, and Alcoholism

Jazi's Mum;1617884 wrote: I don't understand why we get our shorts in a twist because someone files a patent - TO MAKE MONEY!

Hello Jazi

My shorts aren't in a twist Are yours?

I simply noted that the 1979 patent for baclofen and anxiety, which apparently nobody around here was aware of until Mandie found it and posted it, notwithstanding the thousands of hours of research that concerned Members (Ne, tk, Lo0p (GRHS), Otter, Spirit and many others, including myself) have put in on the subject, might well have been the "technical" reason Amiesen himself never got a patent for his amazing discovery, despite trying. If so, that's pretty interesting. To me.

Then we got off on an also somewhat interesting but largely irrelevant discussion of patent applications versus granted patents and how they can be used to make money. Whatever.

The point of this post is to restate my reaction to Mandie's amazing find. Which is: it has been known since at least 1979 that baclofen can successfully address alcoholism and anxiety. I am not taking anything away from Ameisen's advancements with high dose baclofen.

And yet here in the year 2014 the proposition/treatment is still not widely accepted and subject to doubt. The medical profession is not meaningfully engaged in treating alcoholism (and its comorbidities). Rehab centers sell AA for $30,000 a month. The big corporate purveyors of beer, wine and booze spend hundreds of millions on marketing to suck our children into drinking more and more.

In the meantime, in the real world, untreated alcoholics regularly fuck up big time, wreck their marriages, lose their jobs, kill people on the roads, destroy their families, contemplate and commit suicide, waste time in AA and relapse, lose millions of hours of productivity in the workplace, make terrible choices, hate themselves, and wallow in depression and anxiety.

Come to think of it, maybe my knickers are in a twist.

Cassander

[Ne/Neva Eva]

Baclofen Patent in 1979 for Anxiety, Neurosis, and Alcoholism

All your points are spot on, Cass, and made me smile.

For anyone who wants to look at the history of the patent discussions on MWO, here's some help. I connected to the posts I made, because I couldn't remember who else participated. The threads are...interesting.

I think I sent this to Stratus last summer to be included in the new forum? I'm not sure and I'm not going to check right now. Plus I forgot my password over there. (I saw, during my google search, where this info had shown up in a discussion board about social anxiety with a nod to MWO. We get around!)

https://www.mywayout.org/community/f2...tml#post921898 (2010)

https://www.mywayout.org/community/f2...ml#post1097405 (2011)

https://www.mywayout.org/community/f2...ml#post1097416 (2010)

Here's where Lo0p originally posted about it. I know there was another long thread about it, but I can't find it right now and I've run out of time.

https://www.mywayout.org/community/f2...ing-40974.html

I did some research back in the day, and found that the person who applies for the patent has seniority. (This is explained in the link that I put in the first post I wrote here.) Getting a patent is extremely expensive. Applying for it establishes a hierarchy--in other words, the original idea--and therefore that person has first dibs. Even if they don't have an actual patent, the application itself is enough. How do I know? Because I had a lot more time back then and I did a bunch of very easy research. I know there was an article about this broadcast on NPR. (Some people who make money by applying for patents that they have very little right to, and then they get paid when someone comes along to actually patent the idea. Similar to what happens to internet addresses, I suppose.) I don't really want to repeat the research I did 2 years ago. It's moot anyway. He isn't around to collect.

It's true, too, that patents have to be unique. But HDB is absolutely unique. It's not that they have to be completely unheard of before. For example, there are patents that use a medication in combination with another medication. Each medication might have a patent that identifies the properties of the individual medications, but the new patent is for a combination. Again, it isn't really relevant to this discussion. Except that the original patent holders (the one reposted here by Mandiekinz) have patented baclofen up to 60 mg for anxiety. The alcohol is a secondary. Ameisen patented specifically for alcohol treatment (as well, if I recall correctly nicotine, eating disorders and something else) with HDB. Someone might have contested it if they tried to get a patent for it. But I'd guess, since he wrote the book and came up with the idea based on rat studies alone, it's his. I hope that his name doesn't get lost in the history books.

In the last thread link up there is some information that Tk posted that I don't have in my files and is relevant to the discussion of bac and Gabapentin as well as other antiseizure medications. (In red. The first part is an Addolorato study, which is something already posted here and on the other site. The second, from Swift, I'd forgotten about and is very interesting.)

[Ne/Neva Eva]

Baclofen Patent in 1979 for Anxiety, Neurosis, and Alcoholism

It's not the last link, it's the second to last link that has info about Gabapentin and other antiseizure meds.

[Ne/Neva Eva]

Baclofen Patent in 1979 for Anxiety, Neurosis, and Alcoholism

So I just pulled the patent application. There are two. One is for using baclofen in combination with GHB. The other is baclofen for relapse prevention.

United States Patent Application: 0100029771)

[0001] This application claims priority under 35 U.S.C. .sctn.119(e)(5) to U.S. Provisional Application No. 61/085,391, filed Jul. 31, 2008, which is incorporated herein in its entirety.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

[0002] The present invention is directed to the treatment of addiction, and particularly to addictions with a chemical dependency component, using gamma-hydroxybutyrate (GHB) and at least one gamma-aminobutyric acid (B) receptor agonist (GABA.sub.B receptor agonist), for example, baclofen. Pharmaceutical compositions therefor are also provided.

United States Patent Application: 0080182904)

[0001] This application claims priority under 35 U.S.C. .sctn.119(e)(5) to U.S. Provisional Application No. 60/884,989, filed Jan. 15, 2007, which is incorporated herein in its entirety.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

[0002] The present invention is directed a method to prevent relapse in a patient being treated for substance or behavioral addiction using baclofen. Baclofen can also be used to treat depression or other psychological conditions.

[Cassander]

Baclofen Patent in 1979 for Anxiety, Neurosis, and Alcoholism

Aha! So the 1979 patent was not unknown in this forum:

https://www.mywayout.org/community/f2...tml#post921898

Just unknown to (or forgotten by) me.

Thanks, Ne, for this clarification.

Let me, as it is my wont, beat the dead horse:

Regardless of who profits from baclofen treatment for alcoholism (patent application, patent, or no patent), the idea that baclofen may successfully treat craving for alcohol in anxious alcoholics has been known (in the sense that every idea disclosed in a patent application is deemed known) for over 35 years.

From the 1979 patent application:

Mandiekinz;1617004 wrote:

Surprisingly it has been found too that patients of the above mentioned special group, who furthermore have a tendency to alcohol misuse, were not only freed from the anxiety neurosis symptoms, but also from their craving for alcohol.

And still we die.

Go figure.

Cassander

[spiritwolf333]

Baclofen Patent in 1979 for Anxiety, Neurosis, and Alcoholism

90 percent of all alcoholics have a huge anxiety problem -pre alcohol. Alcohol is the cheapest-quickest-most available fix. Unless other medicines are introduced.



"And still we die.

Go figure.

Cassander"

[Otter]

Baclofen Patent in 1979 for Anxiety, Neurosis, and Alcoholism

Cassander;1617740 wrote: Hi Ne

I guess I wish someone who really understands patents would speak up. In the meantime...

A patent application wouldn't entitle Amiesen to anything. No money, no nothing. If no patent was granted he would have no rights. And my understanding is that Ameisen (I wish I could remember which way to spell his name) was never granted a patent. If this is in fact the case, it is likely that his application failed by reason of the fact that it was not sufficiently "new" or it was insufficiently "nonobvious". There are many reasons why an examiner might have denied his patent application, including facts we simply don't know, but the patent Mandie found could well have been one of the reasons. It makes Amiesen's claim much more, if not clearly, "obvious". Or there may have been other reasons why an examiner found Amiesen's invention to either not be "new" or to be "obvious". In any event, no patent seems ever to have been issued.

While Amiesen had no patent rights the existence of his application (and the claims alleged therein) could affect future applications for baclofen treatments since whatever he claimed in his application could help refute a future applicant's claims of "newness" and "nonobviousness".

My respectful two cents. Would love to learn more.:l

Cassander

Ok, here goes.

Ameisen applied for a patent but abandoned it so he never had a patent.

If you go back in this forum to the autumn of 2010 you will find that this topic was discussed then.

A patent application for the use of baclofen for alcoholism was filed in the USA back in 1975, I believe in Lousiana. Doctors there had found that baclofen curbed alcoholic craving and felt strongly enough to try to patent it. I have no idea what happened to the application. I discussed this with Danielle F. who was a film producer who came on this site to try to get interest in making a film but gave up when her backers wanted to make it into some sort of expose of cranks using on-line medication. I said to her that this surely was different from what Ameisen had discovered and she said, no, the patent back then was in the exact terms that Ameisen was proposing, including high dose, except it was using suppositories.

Given that back then we were all pretty new to all this no one really made much of it as it sort of detracted from Ameisen's thunder that someone else had actually come across this before him.

My understanding is that one cannot patent a process such as this of using a drug by increasing it incrementally until it works. I have discussed this with other lawyers and have a tiny bit of experience with patents and my understanding is that HDB is not patentable.

[spiritwolf333]

Baclofen Patent in 1979 for Anxiety, Neurosis, and Alcoholism

Otter;1619060 wrote: Ok, here goes.

Ameisen applied for a patent but abandoned it so he never had a patent.

If you go back in this forum to the autumn of 2010 you will find that this topic was discussed then.

A patent application for the use of baclofen for alcoholism was filed in the USA back in 1975, I believe in Lousiana. Doctors there had found that baclofen curbed alcoholic craving and felt strongly enough to try to patent it. I have no idea what happened to the application. I discussed this with Danielle F. who was a film producer who came on this site to try to get interest in making a film but gave up when her backers wanted to make it into some sort of expose of cranks using on-line medication. I said to her that this surely was different from what Ameisen had discovered and she said, no, the patent back then was in the exact terms that Ameisen was proposing, including high dose, except it was using suppositories.

Given that back then we were all pretty new to all this no one really made much of it as it sort of detracted from Ameisen's thunder that someone else had actually come across this before him.

My understanding is that one cannot patent a process such as this of using a drug by increasing it incrementally until it works. I have discussed this with other lawyers and have a tiny bit of experience with patents and my understanding is that HDB is not patentable.

Hi Otter and Cass -thanks for the information. I will add my two cents:

First, I have been through the entire patent process and was fortunate to receive a grant for a particular method of performance. This entire process was very costly and I paid a "lot of tuition" money in the process of gaining my patent.

Secondly, a patent application can be filed for $200.00. The application is not reviewed by anyone at the patent office. From what I understand, it is quite necessary to include as much detail as possible as the application will be used in furthering the actual patent process. Also, as I have read and been counseled, one has about a year to put together the details, investors, etc. together before the process of actually submitting the patent for formal review and inquiry. The actual patent process can cost upwards to $200,000.00 -without experience and with a lawyer.

Also, I highly suspect that Ameisen's proposed patent was far too general. He spoke of his baclofen regime as a cure to many objectives other than alcoholism. And, as many of us know, he was/is right. However, it was quite unlikely that his extensive range of cures using baclofen would have been approved by the patent office.

Additionally, regardless of your own views or beliefs, one almost has to believe that big pharma and the government play a huge role in the acceptance of "cures" or minimizations of diseases using medication. The reality exists that it is not in the interest of many -including governments, to resolve certain diseases; just too much money involved. In my opinion, only an effort approved by the powers and being provided by the said providers will ever make headway.

And look, even if an idea is granted a patent, it takes a WHOLE LOT OF FURTHER EFFORT to take it to market. In other words, a granted Patent is only the beginning.

[Cassander]

Baclofen Patent in 1979 for Anxiety, Neurosis, and Alcoholism

Otter;1619060 wrote: Ok, here goes.
...

Thanks, Otter. Very clear. For any non-lawyers reading, I conclude that no one will ever have a patent on HDB in the US. That means nobody will ever have a legal monopoly right to sell an "HDB Treatment". That doesn't mean that rehab centers and physicians can't profit from an "HDB Treatment", its just that they can't prevent others from offering the same treatment.

None of the foregoing relates to the US FDA laws and regulations which control how and when "drugs" can be sold and purchased and by whom, including when they can be prescribed or sold "off label". Nor does it relate to state law regulations governing what physicians can and cannot do. All that is a whole 'nother kettle of fish.

Cassander

[spiritwolf333]

Baclofen Patent in 1979 for Anxiety, Neurosis, and Alcoholism

Cassander;1619113 wrote: Thanks, Otter. Very clear. For any non-lawyers reading, I conclude that no one will ever have a patent on HDB in the US. That means nobody will ever have a legal monopoly right to sell an "HDB Treatment". That doesn't mean that rehab centers and physicians can't profit from an "HDB Treatment", its just that they can't prevent others from offering the same treatment.

None of the foregoing relates to the US FDA laws and regulations which control how and when "drugs" can be sold and purchased and by whom, including when they can be prescribed or sold "off label". Nor does it relate to state law regulations governing what physicians can and cannot do. All that is a whole 'nother kettle of fish.

Cassander

Very true Cass -Good info and great post. However, I would like to point out that one might get a patent on HDB administration when combined with "other". I am not convinced that a patent would really do anything for the applicant.

I think the problem comes in with the "willingness" to be the first to step outside the box. As you noted and alluded to, when you see a rehabs step up and offer baclofen-gabapentin as true-first line recovery options, you will then see true progress in the reformation of alcoholics -and a real change in the industry will soon follow.

[Ne/Neva Eva]

Baclofen Patent in 1979 for Anxiety, Neurosis, and Alcoholism

ummm.

There's an actual patent that starts this thread for the use of baclofen to treat... and the amount varies. just sayin'

Also, I heard that the people that Danielle was dealing with were very difficult and adamant about the way things should be done, from other people. Then she disappeared off the face of the earth. Curious.

Did anyone read the link I posted? Didn't think so.

Does it matter? Any of this? I mean for any reason? All this conjecture? I'm just curious. Because I couldn't find a reason to care about it in 1922 when it happened (I mean 2010) other than to hope that Ameisen made a bucketload of money. Someone could very, very easily read some patent law and figure this out in about 20 seconds. Or 20 minutes. 2 hours tops. Then we could stop.

Ha. I just realized I could stop anytime now.