While Germany legalised the use of recreational cannabis in April 2024, France banned the production, sale and use of cannabinoid substances (H4-CBD, H2-CBD, THCP, HHCPO) at the beginning of June 2024 “because of the risks and possible dependence associated with their use”, according to the Agence nationale de sécurité du médicament et des produits de santé (French National Agency for the Safety of Medicines and Health Products).
But what do these acronyms mean: H4-CBD, THCP, etc.? Here's a quick look at the “minor cannabinoids” that are of growing interest to manufacturers, as our patent mapping reveals.
As we indicated in our previous article of 17 May 2021, a large number of patent applications relating to cannabis and its uses have already been filed with patent offices, at a rate of around 1,500 to 2,000 publications per year worldwide.
This previous article presented the major trends and the main applicants in the field; this article focuses more specifically on the cannabinoids identified recently.
Of the hundred or so identified cannabinoids to date, cannabidiol (CBD) is one of the best known to the general public. Its marketing and consumption are not banned in France. Known for its relaxing action, CBD is a “major” cannabinoid because it is present in large quantities in the cannabis sativa plant.
Unsurprisingly, the number of European patent applications citing this product (in the title/abstract/claim fields) has “skyrocketed” to a peak of 824 patent applications filed in 2021 (worldwide):
1st year of publication
Number of patent categories
The illustration below shows the breakdown of these patent applications (worldwide) relating to CBD by main technology category.
Overview of technologies
Naturally, the pharmaceutical field accounts for the largest number (66%) of patent applications. It may come as a surprise to find patent applications classified in the “Electrical engineering” or “Instruments” fields: these are applications relating to instruments used in the extraction and/or processing of cannabinoid products, or to smoking devices such as electronic cigarettes or hookahs.
A closer look reveals that the majority of applicants in the pharmaceutical and chemical fields also file classified patent applications in other fields (machine tools, telecommunications, etc.). Thus, the players in this field are implementing a genuine registration strategy , in order to protect the products (cannabinoids), their uses (pharmaceutical or other), the extraction processes (and the necessary equipment) and the products derived from them or used for their consumption (electronic cigarettes, etc.).
“Minor” cannabinoids are found in (very) small concentrations in cannabis plants. However, they too have psychotropic effects and/or medical potential.
These include cannabigerols (CBG), cannabichromenes (CBC), cannabinols and cannabinodiols (CBN), and tetrahydrocannabivarin (THCV), which are authorised for sale and consumption in France.
The graph below shows the evolution of patent applications relating to cannabinoids in general (in dark blue), and to these four minor cannabinoids (CBG, CBN, CBC and THCV) in particular, over the last 10 years worldwide.
1st year of publication
Number of patent categories
As with CBD, there was a peak in the number of publications worldwide in 2021; since then, there has been a downward trend in the number of publications of patent applications relating to cannabinoids. Applications relating to minor cannabinoids accounted for 30% of publications in 2019, 33.5% in 2020, and up to 39% in 2021, before also starting to fall, reaching 35% of publications in 2023.
The distribution of these applications relating to minor cannabinoids according to technological fields is comparable to that obtained for “CBD” applications, with almost 71% of applications relating to the pharmaceutical field:
Overview of technologies
But let's get back to the minor cannabinoids recently banned in France.
H4-CBD or hydrogenated CBD is a synthetic cannabinoid derived from CBD. This modified version of the natural molecule is said to produce more intense effects than the original CBD.
H2-CBD or dihydrocannabidiol is also a synthetic cannabinoid derived from CBD. It is thought to act more rapidly than CBD on the endocannabinoid system.
THCP or tetrahydrocannabiphorol is a cannabinoid naturally present in cannabis but discovered only recently. It is distinguished from THC by its longer alkyl side chain, which could make its effects up to 30 times more powerful than those induced by THC.
HHCPO or hexahydrocannabiphoro-O acetate, a synthetic cannabinoid derived from CBD, has a modified structure that could give it psychotropic properties superior to those of THC.
A number of patent applications, including international (PCT) applications filed recently, intend to protect these derivatives, their production methods and their uses.
These applications may lead to the issue of European patents. Under Article 53(a) of the European Patent Convention (EPC), the patentability of a product is independent of the fact that its exploitation is prohibited in one or more contracting states of the EPC. This is also the case in other Western countries: in the United States, Canada and Australia, the patentability of a product does not depend on the legality of its exploitation. The situation is different in China, where only therapeutic uses of cannabinoids can be protected by patent, as their recreational use is prohibited.
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There is no doubt that researchers and manufacturers will be developing new synthetic cannabinoid compounds in the very near future, with even more powerful and/or faster biological activity. The legalisation or prohibition of these different compounds is also evolving very rapidly in many countries, and not all of them protect these kinds of compounds in the same way. We are adapting to incorporate these changes into our practices, in order to provide our clients with the best possible support and optimise the protection of their innovations in this field.
We also keep abreast of new developments by regularly updating our technological watch. ; stay tuned!
Your legal advisers and Regimbeau's Strategic Watch department are at your disposal to provide you with the information you need to make strategic decisions (e.g. prior rights searches, freedom-to-operate studies, technology overviews) and to enable you to assess and anticipate future developments, thus allowing you to seize market opportunities.
