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 .
The examiner has considered the amendment and response filed November 26, 2025. Applicants amended claim 1 such that the tumor-selective ligand is a protein, since such a limitation in dependent claim was not rejected under prior art in the previous Office Action. However, the examiner has realized that this limitation should have been rejected, and as such, the following new rejections are being made.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
In the event the determination of the status of the application as subject to AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103 (or as subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103) is incorrect, any correction of the statutory basis (i.e., changing from AIA to pre-AIA ) for the rejection will not be considered a new ground of rejection if the prior art relied upon, and the rationale supporting the rejection, would be the same under either status.
The following is a quotation of the appropriate paragraphs of 35 U.S.C. 102 that form the basis for the rejections under this section made in this Office action:
A person shall be entitled to a patent unless –
(a)(1) the claimed invention was patented, described in a printed publication, or in public use, on sale, or otherwise available to the public before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claim(s) 1, 3, 5-7, 9, 24, 25, 34, 56, and 57 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Kawahara et al. (Chemical Science, 2020).
Kawahara et al. disclose the antigen-specific delivery of carbon monoxide to ovarian cancer cells (a carcinoma) by photoactivatable antibody-photoCORM conjugates. A manganese carbonyl compound is used as the photoCORM and conjugated to mouse monoclonal immunoglobulin G antibodies. Ovarian cancer is known to create a tumor microenvironment that suppresses the body’s immune response, is characterized by immune checkpoint protein (CLTA-4 and PD-1) mediated inhibition of T cell function.
The reference does not expressly mention a method for reducing tumor immunosuppression; however, such a characteristic would be an inherent function of the photoCORM conjugates disclosed by Kawahara et al. when being delivered to ovarian cancer cells which are known to be a type of cancer that suppresses immune response. Therefore, the instant claims are anticipated by the disclosure of Kawahara et al.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 103 which forms the basis for all obviousness rejections set forth in this Office action:
A patent for a claimed invention may not be obtained, notwithstanding that the claimed invention is not identically disclosed as set forth in section 102, if the differences between the claimed invention and the prior art are such that the claimed invention as a whole would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to a person having ordinary skill in the art to which the claimed invention pertains. Patentability shall not be negated by the manner in which the invention was made.
Claim(s) 11, 12, and 40 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Kawahara et al.
The instant claims further limit the method of the claimed invention, such that the carbon monoxide releasing group comprises a metal atom selected from ruthenium, molybdenum, cobalt rhenium, and iron; and to administering the carbon monoxide releasing group intravenously.
Kawahara et al. do not teach the metals recited in the instant claims. The reference teaches a manganese carbonyl compound as the compound that releases carbon monoxide. However, it would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art that other transition metals could have been substituted for manganese to form a metal carbonyl compound that may have been used as a carbon monoxide releasing molecule (CORM). Like manganese, the metals recited in the instant claims are transition metals.
With regard to the mode of administration of the carbon monoxide releasing group, the reference is silent; however, it would be obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art to utilize the most effective administration route for delivering a substance to a subject in need thereof, for a treatment of a particular disease or disorder. Such a person would recognize intravenous, oral, subcutaneous administration, etc., as methods for administering a treatment, and would choose accordingly based on the route deemed most effective.
Claims 2, 26, 31, 32, and 42-48 are objected to as being dependent upon a rejected base claim, but would be allowable if rewritten in independent form including all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to SIKARL A WITHERSPOON whose telephone number is (571)272-0649. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 9am-9pm IFP.
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/SIKARL A WITHERSPOON/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1692