Fatty15 Patent Positioning: Our Moral & Legal Responsibilities

Here at fatty15, our team of scientists and physicians have spent nearly a decade, in cooperation with the U.S. Navy, to discover how C15:0 supports our long-term health and wellness. Based on our extensive peer-reviewed science using pure, free fatty acid C15:0, we invested nearly a decade to develop fatty15 - a pure free fatty acid and patented C15:0 supplement that is science-backed, bioavailable, safe, stable, and free from unstable oils. 

Our mission. Knowing that our C15:0 levels decline as we age, and seeing increasing evidence of population-wide nutritional C15:0 deficiencies, we are on a mission to help replenish population-wide C15:0 levels and restore global health (check out our idea worth sharing as a TEDx talk).  

Competing products. With increased awareness of fatty15 as an effective and pure C15:0 supplement, competitors are starting to commercialize the use of C15:0 in their own supplements. Here, we address key questions about fatty15’s exclusive patent rights from the U.S. Navy, which includes exclusive use of C15:0 in supplements. 

Beyond this information on our patent rights, we have a separate blog (available here) addressing numerous scientific and quality concerns about competitors, including a list of 7 questions that should be asked of any product marketing C15:0 in their supplements. 

What patent rights does fatty15 have around C15:0? 

Thanks to our founders’ work with the U.S. Navy, there is now voluminous peer-reviewed science and over 40 U.S. and international patents supporting the use of C15:0 to improve health. Today, Seraphina Therapeutics (fatty15’s parent company) has exclusive and global licensing rights from the U.S. Navy and the United States of America for general commercialization and use of C15:0 as a supplement, food or beverage ingredient, and pharmaceutical; U.S. Patent No. 11,116,740. In addition, our founders’ extensive science has enabled the fatty15 team to have exclusive patent rights across numerous specific indications, including (but not limited to) use of C15:0 to support:

• Metabolic health, including but not limited to addressing conditions relevant to glucose control, type 2 diabetes, and metabolic syndrome
• Heart health, including but not limited to addressing conditions relevant to dyslipidemia, vascular disease, and inflammation
• Liver health, including but not limited to addressing conditions relevant to nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) and nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH)
• Immune health, including but not limited to lowering conditions relevant to inflammation
• Red blood cell health, including but not limited to addressing conditions relevant to anemia and iron dysmetabolic syndrome
• Healthy aging, including but not limited to addressing conditions relevant to age-related conditions and longevity
• Brain health 
• Improved sleep
• Controlled appetite
• Improved mood, including but not limited to addressing conditions relevant to anxiety, depression, and drug addiction

Beyond the general use of C15:0 and the many science-backed indications, our founders’ diligent science has also enabled Seraphina to have exclusive rights from the U.S. Navy and the United States of America around C15:0 formulations, oral dosing, and targeted C15:0 body levels. A list of many of the exclusively licensed patents to Seraphina Therapeutics and fatty15, including U.S. and international patents, is available at fatty15.com/pages/patents.

In summary, any entity other than fatty15 that is marketing or selling C15:0 as a supplement in the U.S. or any other covered countries, is infringing on patents from the U.S. Navy and the United States of America. 

Why are our founders’ C15:0 discoveries patented?

When discoveries are made, inventors are given the right to apply for patents under the U.S. Patent & Trade Office (USPTO) and the international Patent Cooperation Treaty. This process helps to protect the substantial risk, investment, and time involved to successfully commercialize a new discovery. If a discovery is deemed truly novel and applicable, the USPTO awards patents, which protects inventors for 20 years against competitors who can otherwise simply steal the discovery for the competitor companies’ own profit.  

Because many of our founders’ discoveries were made while at the U.S. Navy, the core patents on the use of C15:0 as a supplement are owned by the U.S. Navy and the United States of America. These patents have been active since at least 2015. 

We have invested the past 10 years to 1) deliver an abundance of peer-reviewed science on our pure C15:0 ingredient, 2) help educate the world about our C15:0 discoveries, and 3) commercialize fatty15. As part of our patent licensing agreement, royalties from every fatty15 sale go back to the U.S. Navy, including in support of the Navy’s Marine Mammal Program.

Taking our global responsibility seriously.

The fatty15 team takes our moral and legal responsibilities to bring C15:0 to the world seriously. This is why fatty15 has extensive peer-reviewed science on its pure, free fatty acid C15:0 powder that backs its claims. This is also why our science continues, including independently run, randomized, double-blinded and placebo controlled clinical trials, and actively engaging the academic scientific research communities to lead their own studies with fatty15’s pure C15:0 ingredient (the only ingredient in fatty15). 

A warning about competitors.

In addition to infringing on the U.S. Navy and United States Government’s patents, competitors marketing C15:0 in their supplements have products that directly conflict with the science behind how pure C15:0 works to improve long-term health. As such, without having their own peer-reviewed science using their formulations, there is no expectation that these products will deliver the claimed C15:0 benefits.

Here’s why:

• Fatty15 provides an extensively-tested pure and bioavailable C15:0 powder at daily doses demonstrated as effective. As a stable, pure, and free fatty acid C15:0 powder, fatty15 has been shown to strengthen cellular membranes, lower inflammation, and repair mitochondrial function, based on dose. Extensive bioavailability studies have shown that 100 mg to 200 mg of orally administered pure, free fatty acid C15:0 is needed to maintain targeted active C15:0 circulating concentrations of 10 to 30 uM.
• Competitors are providing a non-science backed C15:0 oil-based ingredient with unknown bioavailability, mixed with conflicting ingredients, at daily doses and in a formulation that is not expected to be effective in delivering on C15:0 claims. In contrast, current competitors use a triacyglyceride algae-based C15:0 oil that is combined with many other ingredients, including proinflammatory fatty acids and unstable oils that directly compete against C15:0’s beneficial effects. Further, daily dosing of their less-bioavailable C15:0 is 50 mg per day, which is not expected to achieve targeted active C15:0 circulating levels. To our knowledge, there are no peer-reviewed studies demonstrating that these conflicting formulations deliver claimed C15:0 benefits.
• Competitors are sourcing their algae oil-based C15:0 ingredient, and their supplements, from the People’s Republic of China. Finally, competitors on the market use a triacyglyceride algae-based C15:0 oil ingredient marked as “NutraAssure”. This ingredient and these supplements are manufactured by CAS Biosciences, which stands for the Chinese Academy of Sciences, owned by the Chinese government (People’s Republic of China). CAS Biosciences has been notified of Seraphina Therapeutics’ exclusive license with the U.S. Navy to market and sell C15:0 supplements. This means that C15:0 supplement competitors in the U.S. are not only stealing a patented discovery from the U.S. Government, but they are paying the Government of China to manufacture their products.

More information is available here regarding numerous scientific and quality concerns about competitors, including a list of 7 questions that should be asked of any product marketing C15:0 in their supplements. 

Summary.

In summary, fatty15’s patent-protected positioning helps not only to ensure that the inventors are protected against competitors stealing and profiting from USPTO-verified discoveries, but also helps the fatty15 team to protect consumers from products that lack the science to back their formulations and claims.

Our promise to you is to provide the highest quality, science-backed C15:0 ingredient in fatty15. Your health is our top priority, and we will fight to protect everything for which C15:0 stands.