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
This is a response to Applicant’s communication filed on April 22, 2026. Application No. 18/254,897, is a 371 of PCT/JP2021/043654, filed November 29, 2021, and claims foreign priority to Japanese application No. JAPAN 2020-198084, filed November 30, 2020. In a preliminary amendment filed May 30, 2023, Applicant added new claims 12-20. Claims 2, 3, and 12-20 are currently withdrawn from further consideration pursuant to 37 CFR 1.142(b) as being drawn to a nonelected species. The election was made without traverse in the reply filed on November 7, 2025. Claims 1 and 4-11 examined below.
Rejections Withdrawn
The rejection of claims 7-9 under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor regards as the invention, is withdrawn in view of Applicant’s April 22, 2026, Amendment & Remarks.
The rejection of claims 10 and 11 under 35 U.S.C. 112(a) because the specification, while being enabling for pharmaceutical compositions for treating diseases caused by mitochondrial hyperfission, the specification does not reasonably provide enablement for pharmaceutical compositions for preventing said diseases, is withdrawn in view of Applicant’s April 22, 2026, Amendment & Remarks.
The rejection of claims 1, 4, and 6-9 under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Petrow, V., J. OF CHEM. SOC., 200-3 (1946) (citing the CAS Abstract), is withdrawn in view of Applicant’s April 22, 2026, Amendment & Remarks.
New Rejection Necessitated by the April 22, 2026, Amendment & Remarks
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102(a)(1)
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, 4, and 6-11 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Bossert et al., DE 2228377 (citing the CAS Abstract). The CAS Abstract for Bossert discloses the following compound and pharmaceutical compositions thereof:
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(Bossert et al., citing the CAS Abstract for the compound depicted above.) This compound reads on a compound of formula (3), wherein formula (I), R1 or R1’ are both hydrogen; X is N and R2 is a hydrogen, one of R3 or R4 is a substituted alkyl and the other is hydrogen; and R5 and R6 are both methyl. Pharmaceutical compositions of the compounds disclosed there are prepared as antihypertensives in the treatment of cardiac disorders.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112(b)
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.
Claim 5 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor regards as the invention. Claim 5 depends from claim 4 (which depends from claim 1) and is drawn to compounds of formula (3-2) where R3 and R4 are both hydrogen. R3 and R4 cannot both be hydrogen as per the newly added proviso of claim 1. Accordingly, there is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim.
Conclusion
No claims are allowed.
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.
Contact Information
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to TIMOTHY R ROZOF whose telephone number is (571)270-5992. The examiner can normally be reached on Monday - Friday, 9:00 a.m. -5:00 p.m..
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Andrew Kosar can be reached on (571) 272-0913. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
Information regarding the status of an application may be obtained from the Patent Application Information Retrieval (PAIR) system. Status information for published applications may be obtained from either Private PAIR or Public PAIR. Status information for unpublished applications is available through Private PAIR only. For more information about the PAIR system, see http://pair-direct.uspto.gov. Should you have questions on access to the Private PAIR system, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative or access to the automated information system, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000.
/TIMOTHY R ROZOF/
Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1625
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