Notice of Pre-AIA or AIA Status
The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
DETAILED ACTION
Status of Application, Amendments, and/or Claims
A request for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, including the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e), was filed in this application after final rejection. Since this application is eligible for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn. Applicant's submission filed on 07/22/2026 has been entered. Claims 1, 6, 13, 16-19, 34, 49, 53-55, and 61-65 are pending. Claims 1, 6, 13, 16-17, 34, and 61-65 are currently under consideration. Claims 18-19, 49, and 53-55 are withdrawn from further consideration pursuant to 37 CFR 1.142(b) as being drawn to a nonelected invention or nonelected species pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114.
Withdrawn Objections and/or Rejections
The rejection of claim 60 under 35 U.S.C. 112(a) is made moot by cancellation of the claim.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement filed on 07/22/2026 has been considered by the Examiner and an initialed copy of the form PTO-1449 is attached to this communication.
Claim Rejections under 35 USC § 112 (b)
(i). The following is a quotation of the second paragraph of 35 U.S.C. 112:
The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the applicant regards as his invention.
(ii). Claims 1, 6, 13, 16-17, 34, and 61-65 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor regards as the invention.
(i). Claim 1 is indefinite because they recite the acronyms, “R2M3-26”, “1RC07-03” and “R2M13-03”. First, such a term is determined arbitrarily without a definitive structure. Others in the field may prepare the same antibody and give it an entirely different name. Thus, reciting an antibody by a particular name given to the antibody by various workers in the field fails to distinctly claim what the antibody is. Applicants should particularly point out the claimed antibody by reciting characteristics associated with the antibody, such as a sequence identifier (SEQ ID NO) (see, page 53, paragraph [0182]; Table 2).
(ii). Claim 13 recites “a binding composition that specifically binds an inflammatory molecule”. It is unclear what the metes and bounds of the limitation are, rendering the claim indefinite.
Claims 6, 16-17, 34, and 61-65 are rejected as dependent claims from claim 1.
Claim Rejections under 35 USC § 112 (d)
(i). The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(d):
(d) REFERENCE IN DEPENDENT FORMS.—Subject to subsection (e), a claim in dependent form shall contain a reference to a claim previously set forth and then specify a further limitation of the subject matter claimed. A claim in dependent form shall be construed to incorporate by reference all the limitations of the claim to which it refers.
(ii). Claim 6 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112 (d), as being of improper dependent form for failing to further limit the subject matter of the claim upon which it depends, or for failing to include all the limitations of the claim upon which it depends.
Specifically, claim 6 recites a limitation, “wherein the engineered WNT agonist comprises one or more binding composition that binds FZD5, FZD5 and FZD8 or FZD1, FZD2, and FZD7, and one or more binding composition that binds LRP5 or LRP6”. However, claim 1, from which claim 6 depends, limits the engineered WNT agonist to be R2M3-26, 1RC07-03 or R2M13-03. Thus, claim 6 does not further limit the subject matter of claim 1.
Claim Objection
(i). Claim 1 is objected to because it uses the words “and/or”. It is suggested that the words “and/or” in part a and part b be deleted.
(ii). Claim 16 is objected to because it recites “wherein the gastrointestinal disease is an inflammatory bowel disease”, which is inconsistent with “a gastrointestinal disorder” recited in claim 1 (lines 1-2).
Conclusion
No claims are allowed.
Advisory Information
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Ruixiang Li whose telephone number is (571) 272-0875. The examiner can normally be reached on Monday through Friday from 8:30 am to 5:00 pm. If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner's supervisor, Vanessa Ford, can be reached on (571) 272-0857. The fax number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is (571) 273-8300.
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/RUIXIANG LI/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1674 July 26, 2026
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