DETAILED ACTION
The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
Status of the Claims
Claims 1-20 are currently pending.
Election/Restrictions
Applicant’s election without traverse of species autoimmune, hydroxychloroquine, and hydrodynamic transfection, in the reply filed on 1/9/2026 is acknowledged.
Claim 10 recites hydrodynamic transfection. However, claim 10 is dependent from claim 6, which recites a nonelected species of an antioxidant. Therefore, claims 3-17 and 19-20 have been withdrawn from further consideration pursuant to 37 CFR 1.142(b), as being drawn to nonelected inventions and species, there being no allowable generic or linking claims.
Claims 1-2 and 18 are being examined in this application, insofar as they read on the elected species of autoimmune and hydroxychloroquine.
Claim Objections
Claim 1 is objected to because of the following informalities: the recitation of “though” on line 1 is suggested to read “through”. Appropriate correction is required.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
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.
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph:
The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the applicant regards as his invention.
Claim 18 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph, as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor, or for pre-AIA the applicant regards as the invention.
Claim 18, line 1, the recitation of “said antioxidant” is indefinite. Claim 18 is dependent from claim 1, and claim 1 recites “at least one or more antioxidants”. It is unclear what / which antioxidant in claim 1 is recited in claim 18. Applicant may amend claim 18 to recite “said at least one or more antioxidants” to overcome the rejection.
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 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.
(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 1-2 and 18 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1)/(2) as being anticipated by Bravo et al (US 2016/0120910 A1; 5/5/2016.).
The instant claims recite a method of enhancing stem cell activity in the treatment of a degenerative condition through administering at least one or more antioxidants and/or anti-inflammatory agents before, at the same time has, and subsequent to stem cell therapy.
Bravo teaches a method for treating rheumatoid arthritis, an autoimmune disease (para 0001), comprising the use of mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) (Title), wherein the MSCs are pre-stimulated to enhance one or more of their proliferation capacity, migration capacity, survival capacity, therapeutic effect and immunoregulatory properties (para 0073), the MSCs may be administered to a subject in conjunction with one or more further therapeutic agents, the MSCs and the one or more further therapeutic agents may be administered to the subject simultaneously, the MSCs and the one or more further therapeutic agents may be administered to the subject sequentially, the one or more further therapeutic agents may be administered before or after administration of the MSCs (para 0098), preferably the one or more therapeutic agents include hydroxychloroquine sulphate (para 0099).
Therefore the reference anticipates the claimed subject matter.
Conclusion
No claims are allowed.
Contact Information
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to LYNN Y FAN whose telephone number is (571)270-3541. The examiner can normally be reached on M-F 7am-4pm.
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/Lynn Y Fan/
Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1759