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
Priority
Applicant’s claim for the benefit of a prior-filed application under 35 U.S.C. 119(e) or under 35 U.S.C. 120, 121, 365(c), or 386(c) is acknowledged. Claims 1, 12, 14-20, 22-23, 26, 30, 32-34, 38, and 41-42 have an effective filing date of 05MAR2020.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on 08/10/2026 is in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement is being considered by the examiner.
Election/Restriction
In the response filed on 22 DEC 2025, Applicant elected, without traverse:
Group I, claims 1-2, 12, 14-20, 22-23, 26, 30, and 32
Species
SEQ ID NOs: 6, 10, and 1 as the antibody heavy chain CDRs
SEQ ID NOs: 15, 19, and 22 as the antibody light chain CDRs
Status of Claims
Claims 1, 12, 14-20, 22-23, 26, 30, 32-34, 38, and 41-42 are currently pending and presented for examination on the merits.
Claims 1 and 14 are amended.
Claims 33-34, 38, and 41-42 are withdrawn from further examiner by Examiner under 37 CFR 1.142(b) as being drawn to a non-elected invention.
Claims 2-11, 13, 21, 24-25, 27-29, 31, 35-37, 39-40, and 43-44 are canceled.
Objections Withdrawn
The objections against claim 1 are withdrawn in view of Applicant’s amendments.
Rejections Withdrawn
With the exception of claim 12, the rejection filed under 35 U.S.C. 112(a) Written description is withdrawn in view of Applicant’s amendments.
The rejection filed under 35 U.S.C. 112(d) is withdrawn in view of Applicant amendment to claims.
Rejection Maintained
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
Applicant’s Arguments:
Claim 1, from which the other rejected claims depend, has been amended to recite specific sets of complementarity determining regions (CDRs) corresponding to the 6 antibodies described in the specification.
Examiner’s Response:
The Non-Final Office action of 11MAR2026, includes:
Claim 12 is included in this rejection, because absent empirical determination, one skilled in the art would be unable to readily determine which heavy and light chains should be paired such that the resultant antigen-binding domain is capable of binding CCR8.
Applicant has provided neither arguments against the rejection or amendments to the claim.
Clarification is required.
Conclusion
Claims 1, 14-20, 22-23, 26, 30, and 32 are allowed.
Claim 12 is rejected.
Applicant's amendment necessitated the new ground(s) of rejection presented in this Office action. Accordingly, THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. See MPEP § 706.07(a). Applicant is reminded of the extension of time policy as set forth in 37 CFR 1.136(a).
A shortened statutory period for reply to this final action is set to expire THREE MONTHS from the mailing date of this action. In the event a first reply is filed within TWO MONTHS of the mailing date of this final action and the advisory action is not mailed until after the end of the THREE-MONTH shortened statutory period, then the shortened statutory period will expire on the date the advisory action is mailed, and any nonprovisional extension fee (37 CFR 1.17(a)) pursuant to 37 CFR 1.136(a) will be calculated from the mailing date of the advisory action. In no event, however, will the statutory period for reply expire later than SIX MONTHS from the mailing date of this final action.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to DENNIS JOHN SULLIVAN whose telephone number is (571)272-0509. The examiner can normally be reached Mon - Fri: 7:30AM - 4:30PM.
Examiner interviews are available via telephone, in-person, and video conferencing using a USPTO supplied web-based collaboration tool. To schedule an interview, applicant is encouraged to use the USPTO Automated Interview Request (AIR) at http://www.uspto.gov/interviewpractice.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Samira Jean-Louis can be reached at (571) 270-3503. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/DENNIS J SULLIVAN/ Examiner, Art Unit 1642
/NELSON B MOSELEY II/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1642
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