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
Priority and Status of the Claims
1. This application is a 371 PCT/CN2022/094753 05/24/2022, which claims benefit of the foreign application: CNINA CN202110606431.2 05/28/2021.
2. Amendment of claims 9 and 11-13 in the amendment filed on 4/23/2026 is acknowledged. Claims 1-15 are pending in the application.
Responses to Amendments/Arguments
3. Applicant's arguments regarding the rejection of claims 1-2, 4-6, and 14-15 under 35 U.S.C. 103 (a) over Ma et al. ‘500 and ‘242 have been fully considered but they are not persuasive.
Applicants state “However, neither Ma et al. '500 nor Ma et al. '242 specifically discloses compound M2 as recited in claim 1 of the present application. As also acknowledged by the office action, there is a "difference between instant claims and Ma et al. '500 and '242...".
Ma et al. '500 and Ma et al. '242 fail to teach or suggest that compound M2 provides faster-acting effect and higher absolute bioavailability than compound II-5 in Ma et al. '500 and compound I-5 in Ma et al. '242, for antidepressant and anxiolytic effects. The present application solves the long-standing technical problems in the prior art that conventional antidepressant and anxiolytic drugs generally suffer from low bioavailability and take effect slowly.”, see page 7.
However, it is noted that the instant claims 1-2 are drawn to a product compound per se.
Ma et al. ‘500 discloses a compound of formula (II), and Ma et al. ‘242
discloses a compound of formula (II), they read on the instant compounds of formula (M2) in claims 1-2. Therefore Ma et al. ‘500 and ‘242 read on the instant invention claims 1-2, 4-6, and 14-15. The rejection of claims 1-2, 4-6, and 14-15 under 35 U.S.C. 103 (a) over Ma et al. ‘500 and ‘242 is maintained.
4. Since a terminal disclaimer against Ma et al. ‘989 has not been filed to the Office, therefore the rejection of claims 1 and 15 under the obviousness-type double patenting
over Ma et al. ‘989 is maintained. Applicant are requested to file a terminal disclaimer to overcome the rejection.
Claim Objections
5. Claims 3 and 7-13 are objected to as being dependent on rejected claim 1.
6. THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. 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 extension fee 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.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to REI TSANG SHIAO whose telephone number is (571)272-0707. The examiner can normally be reached on 8:30 am-5:00 pm.
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/REI TSANG SHIAO/
Rei-tsang Shiao, Ph.D.Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1691
June 29, 2026
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