DETAILED ACTION
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 . 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 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.
Election/Restrictions
Applicant’s election without traverse of Group I (hydrogel-based wound dressing formulations) and the species of copolymer (the polymer prepared from vinyl sulfonic acid) in the reply filed on 15 January 2026 is acknowledged. Claims 22-25 are withdrawn from further consideration pursuant to 37 CFR 1.142(b) as being drawn to a nonelected species of copolymer (neither formula I nor formula II is read upon by vinyl sulfonic acid ), there being no allowable generic or linking claim.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
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.
(a)(2) the claimed invention was described in a patent issued under section 151, or in an application for patent published or deemed published under section 122(b), in which the patent or application, as the case may be, names another inventor and was effectively filed before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claim 26 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) and 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by Munro et al. (PCT Patent Application Publication WO 2016/079538).
Munro et al. discloses dressings for treating conditions such as surgical wounds (abstract). The system can comprise a hydrogel with a sulphonic acid (claim 1). The sulphonic acid can be pendant on a monomer such as vinyl sulphonic acid (claims 13-14). This hydrogel with this monomer anticipates instant claim 26.
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.
Claims 21 and 27-30 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Munro et al. (PCT Patent Application Publication WO 2016/079538) in view of ‘373 (US Patent Application Publication 2016/0250373).
Munro et al. discloses dressings for treating conditions such as surgical wounds (abstract). The system can comprise a hydrogel with a sulphonic acid and a layer comprising a nitrite (claim 1). The sulphonic acid can be pendant on a monomer which is polymerized and present in the hydrogel (claim 13), with specific monomers suggesting including vinyl sulphonic acid (the elected species of polymer) and 2-acrylamido-2-mtheylpropane sulfonic acid (claim 14).These polymers read upon the instantly recited copolymer.
Munro et al. further suggests the nitrite can be sodium nitrite (claim 8), and this reads upon the instantly recited source of nitrite.
Munro et al. does not suggest the inclusion of an oxygen scavenger. Such scavengers would include glucose (as demonstrated by the instant specification at paragraph [138] & claim 28). This deficiency is remedied by ‘373, which discloses hydrogel wound dressing materials (abstract). Further, ‘373 suggests the inclusion of glucose in order to stimulate wound healing (paragraph [84]).
Therefore, it would have been prima facie obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of filing to have included glucose in the hydrogel taught by Munro et al., as doing so would provide the additional benefit of stimulating wound healing.
Conclusion
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/Brian Gulledge/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1699
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