DETAILED ACTION
A non-final Office action was mailed 16 April 2026 (“Office Action”).
Applicant’s reply to the Office Action was received 17 August 2026 (“Reply”).
Status of the Claims
The listing of claims filed with the Reply has been examined.
Claims 21–31 and 33–35 are pending.
Claims 1–20 and 32 are canceled.
Claims 21, 22, 33, and 34 are amended.
Status of Rejections and Objections
The text of those sections of Title 35, U.S. Code and/or text providing the basis for non-statutory double patenting rejections not included in this action are set forth in the Office Action.
Unless repeated herein, any objection or rejection in the Office Action is withdrawn.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on 20 April 2026 is acknowledged and has been considered.
Claim Objections
Claim 22 is objected to for minor informalities.
Claim 22 was amended to recite: “R2 is selected from the group consisting of C1-C6 alkyl, C1-C6 alkyl, and CN.”
The second recitation of C1-C6 alkyl is redundant.
Appropriate correction is required.
Claim Rejections - 35 U.S.C. § 102
(i) Claim 21 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. §§ 102(a)(1) and (a)(2) as being anticipated by US 8,912,220 (“Elder”).
Elder discloses compounds (e.g., those shown below) that anticipate instant Formula I:
R1, R3, R4, and R5 (Z) = alkyl;
R2 = aryl or heteroaryl; and
a, b, c, d, e, and f = H.
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210
348
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;
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343
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;
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210
351
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;
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346
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;
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348
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(Elder, col. 22).
(ii) Claims 21–26 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. § 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by WO 2022/104475, which claims priority to US Prov. App. Serial No. 63/115,991, filed 19 November 2020 (“Hagel”).
Hagel discloses compounds of Formula (X) and (XI) (shown below) that anticipate instant Formula I:
R1, R3, R4, and R5 (Z) = H or alkyl;
R2 = CN; and
a, b, c, d, e, and f = H.
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106
288
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(Hagel, ¶25).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 34 and 35 are allowed.
Claims 27–31 and 33 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.
Conclusion
Applicant’s amendment necessitated the new ground(s) of rejection presented in this Office action. Accordingly, THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. See MPEP § 706.07(a). Applicant is reminded of the extension of time policy as set forth in 37 C.F.R. § 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 nonprovisional extension fee (37 C.F.R. § 1.17(a)) pursuant to 37 C.F.R. § 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.
Communication
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Jason Nolan at (571) 272-2480. The examiner can normally be reached Monday through Friday between 9:00–5:00.
Examiner interviews are available via telephone, in-person, and video conferencing using a USPTO supplied web-based collaboration tool. To schedule an interview, applicant is encouraged to submit an Automated Interview Request: http://www.uspto.gov/interviewpractice.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Adam Milligan, can be reached on 571-270-7674.
/JASON M. NOLAN/Patent Examiner, Art Unit 1623
/ADAM C MILLIGAN/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 1623
