Assignment history

Inventors

The sole named inventor for US12419895 is Neil M. Cowen. At the time of the merger of Essentialis Inc. with Capnia, Inc. in March 2017 (before this patent's filing in 2025, but relevant to the underlying technology), Neil M. Cowen was the President and Chief Scientific Officer of Essentialis, Inc.. Therefore, he was employed by the original assignee's predecessor-in-interest.

Original assignee

The entity named on the issued patent US12419895 is Essentialis Inc.

Essentialis Inc. was a privately held, clinical-stage biotechnology company focused on developing breakthrough medicines for rare metabolic diseases, specifically targeting the ATP-sensitive potassium channel. Essentialis Inc. had developed Diazoxide Choline Controlled Release Tablet (DCCR) as a potential treatment for Prader-Willi Syndrome (PWS).

In March 2017, Essentialis Inc. was acquired by Capnia, Inc. through a reverse merger, becoming a wholly-owned subsidiary of Capnia. Capnia, Inc. subsequently changed its name to Soleno Therapeutics, Inc. in 2017.

Soleno Therapeutics, Inc. is an operating company that ships a product embodying the claims of this patent. Its lead product, VYKAT™ XR (diazoxide choline) extended-release tablets (formerly known as DCCR), received U.S. FDA approval in March 2025 for the treatment of hyperphagia in individuals aged 4 and older with Prader-Willi Syndrome. VYKAT XR generated $190.4 million in sales through the end of 2025.

Therefore, Essentialis Inc. is no longer an independent operating entity; its assets and operations are now part of Soleno Therapeutics, Inc. Soleno Therapeutics Inc. is currently operating.

Assignment timeline

A search of the USPTO Patent Assignment Center for U.S. Patent 12,419,895 reveals only one recorded assignment:

• 2025-07-07 (executed) / recorded 2025-07-07 — Reel 066344/0833
  • Conveyance: ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNORS INTEREST
  • Assignor: COWEN, NEIL M.
  • Assignee: ESSENTIALIS, INC.
  • Correspondent: ROBERT E. SANCHEZ, ESQ., LAW OFFICES OF ROBERT E. SANCHEZ, P.C., 3847 E. LA JOLLA CIRCLE, MESA, AZ 85206.
  • Context: Inventor assigns rights to the original applicant.

Note on Discrepancy: While the USPTO Patent Assignment Center search for US12419895 and Google Patents list Essentialis Inc. as the current assignee, the previously generated "Litigation summary" section for this patent identifies Soleno Therapeutics Inc. as the Patent Owner in IPR2026-00337. This is due to the 2017 merger of Essentialis Inc. into Capnia, Inc., which subsequently changed its name to Soleno Therapeutics, Inc.. As Essentialis Inc. became a wholly-owned subsidiary of Capnia/Soleno, the patent assets are effectively owned by Soleno Therapeutics Inc. despite no explicit assignment of this specific patent from Essentialis to Soleno being recorded in the USPTO Assignment Center.

Timeline diagram

timeline
    title Ownership of US 12419895
    2017 : Essentialis acquired by Capnia
         : Capnia renames to Soleno
    2025 : Patent filed by Essentialis Inc
         : Inventor assigns to Essentialis
         : Patent issued
    2026 : Soleno named owner in IPR
         : Neurocrine to acquire Soleno

NPE / troll-pattern signals

1. Shell-entity transfer — Unclear. Essentialis Inc. was a privately held company that became a wholly-owned subsidiary of Capnia/Soleno Therapeutics Inc.. Soleno Therapeutics Inc. is a publicly traded operating company. There is no evidence of a transfer to a shell entity in the recorded assignments for this specific patent.
2. Known asserter in the chain — Not present. Essentialis Inc. and Soleno Therapeutics Inc. are pharmaceutical development and commercialization companies.
3. Repeat correspondent across the chain — Not present. Robert E. Sanchez, Esq. appears as correspondent for the single recorded assignment (Reel 066344/0833). There is no pattern of recurrence for this patent.
4. Cascading transfers — Not present. Only one assignment for this patent is recorded in the USPTO Assignment Center.
5. Pre-litigation transfer — Not present. The single recorded assignment (Reel 066344/0833) is dated 2025-07-07, well before the IPR filing on 2026-04-21.
6. Bankruptcy fire-sale — Not present. Essentialis Inc. was acquired via a merger, not a bankruptcy sale.
7. Privateering — Not present. Soleno Therapeutics Inc. is an operating company asserting its own patents in the context of commercializing its product, VYKAT XR.
8. Defensive aggregator (anti-NPE) — Not present. The current effective owner (Soleno Therapeutics Inc.) is a commercial entity, not a defensive aggregator.

Verdict

Operating-company assertion
The patent owner, Soleno Therapeutics Inc. (through its acquisition of Essentialis Inc.), is an operating company that develops and commercializes VYKAT XR, a product that directly embodies the claims of US12419985 for treating Prader-Willi Syndrome. The IPR proceeding indicates active defense of its commercialized product's intellectual property. The single recorded assignment (Reel 066344/0833) is from the inventor to the original applicant, which is standard for an operating company.

USPTO Assignment Center Search for US12419895