The Non-Final Office action mailed February 25, 2026, is vacated. This Non-Final Office action replaces the February 25, 2026, Non-Final Office action. Accordingly, the period for reply is reset from the mailing date of this Office 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 .
DETAILED ACTION
This is a response to Applicant’s communication filed on December 19, 2025. Application No. 18/256,747, is a 371 of PCT/IL2021/051470, filed December 9, 2021, and claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional application No. 63/123,835, filed December 10, 2020. In a preliminary amendment filed June 9, 2023, Applicant cancelled claims 1-49 and added new claims 50-69. Claims 50-69 are pending.
Election/Restrictions
Applicant’s election without traverse of the invention of Group I in the reply filed on October 27, 2025, is acknowledged. Claims 59-69 are withdrawn from further consideration pursuant to 37 CFR 1.142(b) as being drawn to a nonelected invention. The election was made without traverse in the reply filed on December 19, 2025.
Claims 50-58 are examined below.
,Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 101
35 U.S.C. 101 reads as follows:
Whoever invents or discovers any new and useful process, machine, manufacture, or composition of matter, or any new and useful improvement thereof, may obtain a patent therefor, subject to the conditions and requirements of this title.
Claims 50 and 58 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 101 because the claimed invention is directed to a product of nature, judicial exceptions without significantly more. See MPEP 2106. The claims recite an ophthalmic composition comprising 3,5,4’-trihydroxy-6,7,3’-trimethoxy flavone (TTF) and an ophthalmic acceptable carrier (i.e., saline). These judicial exceptions are not integrated into a practical application because TTF a natural product in a composition with a second component, saline, also a natural product, do not amount to “significantly more than the judicial exception”. The claim(s) does/do not include additional elements that are sufficient to amount to significantly more than the judicial exception because there is no evidence that mixing TTF with saline results in a markedly different structure or function relative to the individual components.
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 50-58 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Elmann et al., US2017/0020842 A1. Elmann a composition comprising 3,5,4'-trihydroxy-6,7,3'-trimethoxyflavone (TTF) or a pharmaceutically acceptable salt or solvate thereof, and an ophthalmic acceptable carrier. See Elmann et al., ‘842 publc’n, Abstract; see also Id., paras. [0007]-[0030], for additional additives, carriers, and methods of administration
Please note that the recited use or intended purpose of the claimed composition comprising TTF does not limit the claims. See MPEP 2111.02 II, “If the body of a claim fully and intrinsically sets forth all of the limitations of the claimed invention, and the preamble merely states, for example, the purpose or intended use of the invention, rather than any distinct definition of any of the claimed invention’s limitations, then the preamble is not considered a limitation and is of no significance to claim construction.” In this case, the body of the claim fully and intrinsically sets forth all of the limitations of the claimed invention, i.e., a composition comprising TTF. The composition disclosed in the prior art reads on the structural limitations of the claims of the present invention. Accordingly, prior art anticipates the claimed invention.
Conclusion
No claims are allowed.
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.
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/TIMOTHY R ROZOF/
Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1625
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