Prosecution Insights
Last updated: April 19, 2026
Application No. 18/280,111

THREE-COORDINATE AU(I) PROBES AND USE IN SELECTIVELY DISRUPTING MITOCHONDRIA IN CANCER CELLS

Non-Final OA §102
Filed
Sep 01, 2023
Examiner
RAO, SAVITHA M
Art Unit
1691
Tech Center
1600 — Biotechnology & Organic Chemistry
Assignee
UNIVERSITY OF KENTUCKY RESEARCH FOUNDATION
OA Round
1 (Non-Final)
60%
Grant Probability
Moderate
1-2
OA Rounds
2y 7m
To Grant
90%
With Interview

Examiner Intelligence

Grants 60% of resolved cases
60%
Career Allow Rate
697 granted / 1152 resolved
+0.5% vs TC avg
Strong +30% interview lift
Without
With
+29.5%
Interview Lift
resolved cases with interview
Typical timeline
2y 7m
Avg Prosecution
40 currently pending
Career history
1192
Total Applications
across all art units

Statute-Specific Performance

§101
1.3%
-38.7% vs TC avg
§103
40.1%
+0.1% vs TC avg
§102
18.3%
-21.7% vs TC avg
§112
22.6%
-17.4% vs TC avg
Black line = Tech Center average estimate • Based on career data from 1152 resolved cases

Office Action

§102
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 Claim 1-16, 21 and 27-29 are pending and are under consideration in the instant office action. Information Disclosure Statement The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on 09/01/2023 complies with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97, 1.98 and MPEP § 609. Accordingly, it has been placed in the application file and the information therein has been considered as to the merits. See attached copy of the PTO-1449. Priority This application claims priority from U.S. Provisional Application Serial No. 63/156,576 filed March 4, 2021 . Claim Objections Claims 6, 8-12, 14-16, 21 and 27-29 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. Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102 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. (a)(2) the claimed invention was described in a patent issued under section 151, or in an application for patent published or deemed published under section 122(b), in which the patent or application, as the case may be, names another inventor and was effectively filed before the effective filing date of the claimed invention. Claims 1-5, 7 and 13 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102 (a) (1) and under 35 U.S.C 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by Yang et al. (J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2019, 141, 17414-17420) Instant claims are drawn to a compound of formula PNG media_image1.png 321 298 media_image1.png Greyscale Or a pharmaceutically acceptable salt thereof wherein X is C, P or As; R1 and R2 are independently selected from the group consisting of H, alkyl, cycloalkyl, aryl, and heterocycloalkyl, or R1 and R2, taken together with the carbons to which they are bound, form a 5-7-membered ring; R3 and R4 are independently selected from the group consisting of H, alkyl, cycloalkyl, aryl, and heterocycloalkyl; R5 and R6 are each PNG media_image2.png 49 59 media_image2.png Greyscale ,or when X is C then R5 and R6 taken together with the Cto which they are bound can form a 5-membered ring that is substituted or unsubstituted; R7 is H or PNG media_image3.png 52 91 media_image3.png Greyscale and R8 is selected from the group consisting of H, alkyl, cycloalkyl, aryl, and heterocycloalkyl. Yang et al. discloses tricoordination at Gold(I) and describes the following compound (page 17415, under Results and Discussion, Tricoordination of Gold (I)) PNG media_image4.png 126 109 media_image4.png Greyscale which anticipates the instantly claimed compound where X is P, R1, R2, R3 R4, are H and R5, R6 and R7 are Phenyl. Therefore the compound disclosed by Yang et al. fully anticipates instant claims 1-5, 7 and 13. Conclusion Claims 1-5, 7 and 13 are rejected. Claims 6, 8-12, 14-16, 21 and 27-29 are objected. No claims are allowed Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to SAVITHA RAO whose telephone number is (571)270-5315. The examiner can normally be reached on Mon-Fri 7 am to 4 pm.. If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Dierdre (Renee) Claytor can be reached on (571) 272-8394. 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. /SAVITHA M RAO/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1691
Read full office action

Prosecution Timeline

Sep 01, 2023
Application Filed
Dec 26, 2025
Non-Final Rejection — §102 (current)

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Study what changed to get past this examiner. Based on 5 most recent grants.

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Prosecution Projections

1-2
Expected OA Rounds
60%
Grant Probability
90%
With Interview (+29.5%)
2y 7m
Median Time to Grant
Low
PTA Risk
Based on 1152 resolved cases by this examiner. Grant probability derived from career allow rate.

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