Prosecution Insights
Last updated: April 19, 2026
Application No. 18/252,024

METHODS FOR DISRUPTING MITOCHONDRIAL UNFOLDED PROTEIN RESPONSE

Non-Final OA §112
Filed
May 05, 2023
Examiner
HEASLEY, MEGHAN CHRISTINE
Art Unit
1626
Tech Center
1600 — Biotechnology & Organic Chemistry
Assignee
Health Research Inc.
OA Round
1 (Non-Final)
76%
Grant Probability
Favorable
1-2
OA Rounds
3y 1m
To Grant
99%
With Interview

Examiner Intelligence

Grants 76% — above average
76%
Career Allow Rate
83 granted / 109 resolved
+16.1% vs TC avg
Strong +34% interview lift
Without
With
+33.6%
Interview Lift
resolved cases with interview
Typical timeline
3y 1m
Avg Prosecution
35 currently pending
Career history
144
Total Applications
across all art units

Statute-Specific Performance

§101
1.8%
-38.2% vs TC avg
§103
33.3%
-6.7% vs TC avg
§102
18.4%
-21.6% vs TC avg
§112
27.2%
-12.8% vs TC avg
Black line = Tech Center average estimate • Based on career data from 109 resolved cases

Office Action

§112
Detailed Action 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 . Status of the Claims Claims 1-14 are pending. Claims 1-12 are rejected. Claims 13-14 are objected to. Information Disclosure Statement The Information Disclosure Statements (IDS’s) submitted on 5/5/2023 and 8/15/2024 were considered by the Examiner. Election/Restriction Examiner with withdrawing election of species request mailed on 10/10/2025. Claims 1-14 have been examined in full. Claim Objections Claim 2 is objected to because of the following informalities: Replace “cancers, cardiovascular diseases, liver diseases, and neurodegenerative diseases” with “ a cancer, a cardiovascular disease, a liver disease, and a neurodegenerative disease”. Claim 5 is objected to because of the following informalities: “castration-resistant” does not need to be in quotation marks. Appropriate correction is required. 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 1-12 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 1 recites “or suspected of having a condition….”. The instant specification does not clarify what “suspected of having a condition” means. It is unclear of what parameters are met for an individual to be suspected of having a condition. Additionally, instant claim 1 also does not provide guidelines for “an individual in need of treatment”; thus, the claim is indefinite because the metes and bounds cannot be ascertained. Examiner recommends incorporating the limitations of instant claim 13 into independent claim 1 to provide clarity to the individual in need of treatment. Claims 2-12 are rejected for depending from an indefinite claim and failing to remedy its deficiencies. Allowable Subject Matter Claims 13 and 14 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. The closest prior art is PubChem CID 9113063 (PubChem entry created 7/30/2006 and listed on a 5/5/2023 Applicant IDS). PubChem CID 9113063 is drawn to the following compound: PNG media_image1.png 199 219 media_image1.png Greyscale . However, PubChem CID 9113063 does not have the utility, for the method as instantly claimed. Therefore, the prior art does not provide motivation for, nor render obvious, the instant claims. Conclusion Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to MEGHAN C HEASLEY whose telephone number is (571)270-0785. The examiner can normally be reached Monday - Friday 8:30-4:30 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, Amy Clark can be reached at 571-272-1310. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300. Information regarding the status of published or unpublished applications may be obtained from Patent Center. Unpublished application information in Patent Center is available to registered users. To file and manage patent submissions in Patent Center, visit: https://patentcenter.uspto.gov. Visit https://www.uspto.gov/patents/apply/patent-center for more information about Patent Center and https://www.uspto.gov/patents/docx for information about filing in DOCX format. For additional questions, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000. /MEGHAN C HEASLEY/Examiner, Art Unit 1626 /KAMAL A SAEED/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1626
Read full office action

Prosecution Timeline

May 05, 2023
Application Filed
Jan 15, 2026
Non-Final Rejection — §112 (current)

Precedent Cases

Applications granted by this same examiner with similar technology

Patent 12600716
COMPOUNDS FOR MODULATING ACTIVITY OF FXR AND USES THEREOF
2y 5m to grant Granted Apr 14, 2026
Patent 12600715
SOLUBLE GUANYLATE CYCLATE ACTIVATORS FOR TREATING SYSTEMIC SCLEROSIS
2y 5m to grant Granted Apr 14, 2026
Patent 12599560
LIPIDS AND LIPID NANOPARTICLE FORMULATIONS
2y 5m to grant Granted Apr 14, 2026
Patent 12582637
NOVEL TOPICAL FORMULATION FOR INTRADERMAL APPLICATION AND USES THEREOF
2y 5m to grant Granted Mar 24, 2026
Patent 12577213
DEUTERATED 1,4-BENZODIAZEPINE-2,5-DIONE COMPOUND AND USE THEREOF
2y 5m to grant Granted Mar 17, 2026
Study what changed to get past this examiner. Based on 5 most recent grants.

AI Strategy Recommendation

Get an AI-powered prosecution strategy using examiner precedents, rejection analysis, and claim mapping.
Powered by AI — typically takes 5-10 seconds

Prosecution Projections

1-2
Expected OA Rounds
76%
Grant Probability
99%
With Interview (+33.6%)
3y 1m
Median Time to Grant
Low
PTA Risk
Based on 109 resolved cases by this examiner. Grant probability derived from career allow rate.

Sign in with your work email

Enter your email to receive a magic link. No password needed.

Personal email addresses (Gmail, Yahoo, etc.) are not accepted.

Free tier: 3 strategy analyses per month