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 .
Receipt is acknowledged for IDS filed 08/02/2023 and response to restriction requirement filed 04/23/2026.
Claims 1-15 are pending.
Election/Restrictions
In response to the restriction requirement mailed 02/25/2026, applicant elected Group I, claims 1-9 and elected degradable structure terminated with polyethylene glycol as the polymer P; and elected specific component A-1.1 listed in paragraph [0036] of the as filed specification:
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. Based on this election, applicant identified claims 1-5 as reading on the elected species and withdraws claims 6-15. Applicant further requested that upon the allowance of claims 1-5, the withdrawn claims be rejoined with allowable claim 1.
Applicant does not indicate that the election is made with or without traverse ad has not provided reasons for traversal. Therefore, applicant’s election of Group I, claims 1-5 in the reply filed on 04/23/2026 is acknowledged. Because applicant did not distinctly and specifically point out the supposed errors in the restriction requirement, the election has been treated as an election without traverse (MPEP § 818.01(a)).
Claims 6-15 stand withdrawn from further consideration pursuant to 37 CFR 1.142(b) as being drawn to a nonelected inventions, there being no allowable generic or linking claim. Election was made without traverse in the reply filed on 04/23/2026.
Claims 1-5 are under consideration.
While applicant elected claims 1-5 and the specific component A-1.1, no claim is amended.
Priority
This application is a continuation of PCT/CN2021/091377 filed 04/30/2021 and which claim benefit of Chinese application 202110174135.X filed 02/09/2021.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
In the event the determination of the status of the application as subject to AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103 (or as subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103) is incorrect, any correction of the statutory basis (i.e., changing from AIA to pre-AIA ) for the rejection will not be considered a new ground of rejection if the prior art relied upon, and the rationale supporting the rejection, would be the same under either status.
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.
Claim(s) 1-4 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by HE CHAOLIANG et al., (CN 111440334 (A) cited in 1449, using the Espacenet English Translation).
No claim is amended. Claim 1 teaches o-phthalaldehyde modified polymer and one of the polymers is multi-arm PEG.
For claim 1 and 2 and 4, HE CHAOLIANG teaches tetra-arm (multi-arm) polyethylene glycol with o-phthalaldehyde (See the whole document with emphasis on Figure, paragraph [0041]; last two lines of paragraph [0119]; lines 4 and 5 of paragraph [0121]; paragraph [0154]; paragraph [0157], paragraph [0159]-[0160]; line 5 of paragraphs [0162], [0164], [0166], [0168], [0170], [0172], [0176], [0178], [0180] (line 6), [0184]); all of the English translated document. On page 2 of 3 of the original CN 111440334 (A) document, compounds (IV) and (V) disclose 4-arm and 8-arm modified PEG where the R is formula II, o-phthalaldehyde and n is greater than 2 in each of (IV) and (V). In component II, R1-R4 is each hydrogen meting structure of Formula I of claim 1 and which also meets the limitation of R5-and R6 of the structure of formula II of claim 2; and the polyethylene glycol meets claim 4.
In paragraph [0055] of the original document, o-phthalaldehyde
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has an amide bond and x + y is greater than 50 and less than 2500 (paragraph [0019] of the translation), thereby having polypeptide bond meeting claim 3.
Therefore, HE CHAOLIANG teaches all the elements of claims 1-4.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claim 5 is 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 elected species is
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is free of art.
The specification has not been checked to the extent necessary to determine the presence of all possible minor errors. Applicant’s cooperation is requested in correcting any errors of which applicant may become aware in the specification.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to BLESSING M FUBARA whose telephone number is (571)272-0594. The examiner can normally be reached 7:30 am-6 pm (M-T).
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Brian Yong Kwon can be reached at 5712720581. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/BLESSING M FUBARA/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1613
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