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
RCE Nonfinal Rejection
Request for Continued Examination
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and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114.
Applicant’s submission filed on 12/08/2025 has been entered.
Claim Status
Claims 1-17 and 23-37 were pending as of the prior Office Actions and Advisory Action.
Upon RCE amendment entrance, Claims 1-17 and 23-37 are pending examination.
Priority
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No foreign priority was claimed in the Instant Application; EFD is 12/23/2021.
Information Disclosure Statement
All references have been considered in the one (1) IDS(s) filed on 05/11/2026 unless marked with a strikethrough.
Review of Claims for Clarification
Examiner acknowledged election of Group I: Claims 1-17 made without traverse.
Claims 23-24 were withdrawn as being drawn to a non-elected invention.
Elected Specie: Applicant elected Cpd. No. 84: N-((1-(difluoromethyl)-4-(4-(trifluoromethyl)phenyl)-4,5,6,7-tetrahydro-1H-pyrazolo[4,3-b]pyridin-6-yl)methyl) acrylamide, the structure which is shown below.
The elected specie chosen (Cpd. No. 84) reads on Claims 1-2, 5-6, 8-14, 17.
Newly added Claims 25-37 were also examined.
For clarification: the Elected Specie (Cpd. 84 above) reads on Claims 1-2, 5-6, 9-14, 17 and newly added Claims 25, 31, 33.
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Pursuant to 37 CFR 1.142(b), Claims 3-4, 7-8, 15-16, 18-24, 26-30, 32, 34-37 are withdrawn as being drawn to a nonelected invention.
The elected specie (Cpd. 84) was not identified in prior art.
The elected specie would be allowable if drafted as an independent claim to the elected specie alone.
Expanded Specie: Examiner expanded her search to additional species within the genus, per MPEP § 802.03.
An expanded specie was found which read on Claims 1-2, and 5-6 and 17.
Therefore, pursuant to 37 CFR 1.142(b) as being drawn to a nonelected invention, the expanded specie does not read on Claims 3-4, 7-16, and 18-37 and therefore are withdrawn.
Information Disclosure Statement
Examiner acknowledged IDS(s) submitted in the Office Action mailed 05/11/2026.
Examiner Responses to Amendments/Arguments
The issues raised in the Office Action are addressed below:
I. Claim Amendments –
Upon amendment entrance, Applicant amended Claims 1 and 2 with changes in the limitations; Claim 11 has been amended editorially.
II. Withdrawn Claims Rejection –
Applicant' s arguments with respect to claim(s) 1, 2, 5, 6, 11, 12 and 25-37 have been considered but are moot because the new ground of rejection does not rely on any reference applied in the prior rejection of record for any teaching or matter specifically challenged in the argument.
Though the elected specie is free of art, the amended claims read on a new expanded specie.
III. RCE Claims Rejection –
The amended claims read on a different expanded specie,
a new rejection is listed below.
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.
Claims 1-2, 5-6 and 17 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102 (a)(1) as being anticipated by N. Luise, et. Al in “A Continuous Flow Strategy for the Facile Synthesis and Elaboration of Semi-Saturated Heterobicyclic Fragments” (Eur. J. Org. Chem., 2019: 1341-1349; hereinafter “Luise”).
With respect to Claims 1-2, 5-6 and 17, Luise developed a continuous flow hydrogenation strategy for the efficient synthesis of semi-saturated heterobicyclic fragments with high sp³ content, targeting fragment-based drug discovery (FBDD). On pg. 1342, Scheme 1 (see below), the generated fragments, with appropriate physicochemical properties, present diverse hydrogen- bonding pharmacophores and useful vectors for their synthetic elaboration in the optimization stage
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Conclusion
Claims 1-2, 5-6, and 17 are rejected.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Josmalen M. Ramos-Lewis whose telephone number is (571)272-0084. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 9:00-5:30 pm.
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, Clinton A. Brooks can be reached on (571)270-7682. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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Josmalen M. Ramos-Lewis, Ph.D.
Patent Examiner
Art Unit 1621
/CLINTON A BROOKS/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 1621
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