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 .
Claims 1-21 are pending.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(d):
(d) REFERENCE IN DEPENDENT FORMS.—Subject to subsection (e), a claim in dependent form shall contain a reference to a claim previously set forth and then specify a further limitation of the subject matter claimed. A claim in dependent form shall be construed to incorporate by reference all the limitations of the claim to which it refers.
The following is a quotation of pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, fourth paragraph:
Subject to the following paragraph [i.e., the fifth paragraph of pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112], a claim in dependent form shall contain a reference to a claim previously set forth and then specify a further limitation of the subject matter claimed. A claim in dependent form shall be construed to incorporate by reference all the limitations of the claim to which it refers.
Claims 15-21 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(d) or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, 4th paragraph, as being of improper dependent form for failing to further limit the subject matter of the claim upon which it depends, or for failing to include all the limitations of the claim upon which it depends. The scope of claims 15-21 is broader than that of claim 1. Applicant may cancel the claim(s), amend the claim(s) to place the claim(s) in proper dependent form, rewrite the claim(s) in independent form, or present a sufficient showing that the dependent claim(s) complies with the statutory requirements.
The examiner will favorably consider the amendment to make claim 15 as an independent claim.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 103 which forms the basis for all obviousness rejections set forth in this Office action:
A patent for a claimed invention may not be obtained, notwithstanding that the claimed invention is not identically disclosed as set forth in section 102, if the differences between the claimed invention and the prior art are such that the claimed invention as a whole would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to a person having ordinary skill in the art to which the claimed invention pertains. Patentability shall not be negated by the manner in which the invention was made.
Claim(s) 15-21 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over WO 2018/049000 (‘000).
‘000 teaches the use of a combination of a histone methyltransferase inhibitor and histone deacetylase (HDAC) inhibitor in a method of treating cancer (see for example claim 21). ‘000 teaches one of the histone methyltransferase inhibitors is entacapone (see [0041] and claim 20). ‘000 teaches the cancer includes glioma, glioblastoma and breast cancers among other cancer (see [0083] and [0153]).
‘000 does not expressly teach entacapone be in contact with the cells.
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of filing to administering entacapone in a method of treating breast cancer or glioblastoma.
One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to administering entacapone in a method of treating breast cancer or glioblastoma as entacapone is known to be useful in a method of treating cancers such as breast cancer or glioblastoma. Once the compound is administered, it will inevitably get in contact with the cells. And therefore, the limitations of claim 20 is met. The inhibition of fat mass obesity-associated protein (FTO) would be an inevitable result from the administration of entacapone.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 1-14 are allowed.
The herein claimed compounds in claim 1 is not taught or fairly suggested by the prior art.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to SAN MING R HUI whose telephone number is (571)272-0626. The examiner can normally be reached Mon - Fri 9:30-5:30.
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/SAN MING R HUI/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1627