DETAILED ACTION
The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
This Office Action is in response to the paper filed 6 March 2026. Claim 65 has been amended. Claim 85 is newly added. Claims 79, 83, and 84 have been cancelled. Claims 70 and 72 remain withdrawn. Claims 65-69, 71, 73-78, 80-82, and 85 are currently pending and under examination.
This application is a continuation of U.S. Patent Application No. 16/313714, filed December 27, 2018, now U.S. Patent No. 11,477,981, which is the national stage application of International Application No. PCT/US2017/040012, filed June 29, 2017, which claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application No. 62/471265, filed March 14, 2017, and U.S. Provisional Application No. 62/356008, filed June 29, 2016.
Terminal Disclaimer
The terminal disclaimer filed on 6 March 2026 disclaiming the terminal portion of any patent granted on this application which would extend beyond the expiration date of U.S. Patent No. 11,477,981 has been reviewed and is accepted. The terminal disclaimer has been recorded.
Withdrawal of Rejections:
The rejection of claim 79 under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph, as being indefinite, is withdrawn.
The rejection of claims 65-69, 71, 73-76, and 78-84 under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Zamecnik, in view of Kasper et al., is withdrawn.
The rejection of claims 65 and 77 under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Zamecnik and Kasper et al., and further in view of Taylor et al., is withdrawn.
The rejection of claims 65-69, 71, 73-79, 83, and 84 on the ground of nonstatutory double patenting as being unpatentable over claims 1-19 of U.S. Patent No. 11,477,981, is withdrawn.
New Rejections Necessitated by Amendment:
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(b):
(b) CONCLUSION.—The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor regards as the invention.
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph:
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.
Claims 65-69, 71, 73-78, 80-82, and 85 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph, as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor (or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the applicant), regards as the invention.
Claim 65 recites the limitations "the uniform distribution" in line 5, and “the vascular networks” in line 6. There is insufficient antecedent basis for these limitations in the claim. No uniform distribution or vascular networks are previously recited in the claim.
Additionally regarding claim 65, this claim recites “perfusing or contacting, or both perfusing and contacting” the liver with the composition comprising the hydrogel particles, and as amended, further recites that “sizes of the hydrogel particles are tuned to diameters that promote the uniform distribution of the hydrogel particles throughout the vasculature networks in the liver” (emphasis added). This claim is indefinite, because it is unclear what size the hydrogel particles would be tuned to, to promote uniform distribution throughout the vascular networks if the hydrogel particles only “contact” the liver. Perfusion is necessary to distribute the hydrogel particles throughout the vasculature networks.
To overcome this rejection, it is suggested that “perfusing or contacting, or both perfusing and contacting” be amended to recite “perfusing
Claims 66-69, 71, 73-78, 80-82, and 85 are included in this rejection, as these claims depend from above rejected claim 65, and fail to remedy the noted deficiencies.
Response to Arguments
In view of Applicant’s amendments, all previous rejections have been withdrawn. Therefore, Applicant’s arguments are moot. However, new rejections have been set forth above.
Conclusion
No claims are allowable. However, the claims appear to be free of the art.
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 JENNIFER M.H. TICHY whose telephone number is (571)272-3274. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Thursday, 9:00am-7:00pm ET.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Sharmila G. Landau can be reached at (571)272-0614. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/JENNIFER M.H. TICHY/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1653
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