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 .
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.
DETAILED ACTION
Claims 1-11 are pending in this application. This application is a division of US 17/427,902, filed on 08/02/2021, which is a national stage entry of PCT/JP2020/003947, filled on 02/03/2020, which claims foreign priority to PCT/JP2019/003868, filed on 02/04/2019 in WO.
Election/Restrictions
Applicants’ election without traverse of invention I, claims 1-10, and subsequent species election of not medical ingredient in claim 6 among claims 6-8, filed on 05/22/2026 is acknowledged.
Claims 7, 8, and 11 are is withdrawn from further consideration pursuant to 37 CFR 1.142(b) as being drawn to a nonelected group or species, there being no allowable generic or linking claim.
Claims 1-6, 9, and 10 will presently be examined to the extent they read on the elected subject matter of record.
Priority
Receipt is acknowledged of papers submitted under 35 U.S.C. 119(a)-(d), which papers have been placed of record in the file.
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.
This application currently names joint inventors. In considering patentability of the claims under 35 U.S.C. 103(a), the examiner presumes that the subject matter of the various claims was commonly owned at the time any inventions covered therein were made absent any evidence to the contrary. Applicant is advised of the obligation under 37 CFR 1.56 to point out the inventor and invention dates of each claim that was not commonly owned at the time a later invention was made in order for the examiner to consider the applicability of 35 U.S.C. 103(c) and potential 35 U.S.C. 102(e), (f) or (g) prior art under 35 U.S.C. 103(a).
The factual inquiries set forth in Graham v. John Deere Co., 383 U.S. 1, 148 USPQ 459 (1966), that are applied for establishing a background for determining obviousness under 35 U.S.C. 103(a) are summarized as follows:
1. Determining the scope and contents of the prior art.
2. Ascertaining the differences between the prior art and the claims at issue.
3. Resolving the level of ordinary skill in the pertinent art.
4. Considering objective evidence present in the application indicating obviousness or nonobviousness.
Claims 1-6, 9, and 10 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103(a) as being unpatentable over Feldstein et al. (US 2004/0242770 A1) in view of Fischer et al. (US 4,556,056).
Feldstein et al. teach liquid film-forming hydrogel bandages, being applied to the body surfaces in the form of liquid solutions to give elastic adhesive films in the course of drying at application site with canker sores (the claimed applying a film-forming composition on at least a portion of a subject’s skin for forming a thin film on at least a portion of a subject’s skin in the instant claim 1 and the claimed treating skin disease claims 4 and 5), comprising
water (the instant claim 1),
a water-insoluble film-forming polymer including Eudragit RS which is a copolymer of trimethylammonioethyl methacrylate chloride with ethyl acrylate and methyl methacrylate (the claimed acrylic polymer in the instant claim 1) and
plasticizers such as tributyl citrate (liquid at room temperature, the claimed plasticizer in the instant claim 1) (paragraph 161, 215, 216, and 218-223 and claims 12, 13, 29-32, and 36);
wherein a hydrogel composition comprises a hydrogel and one or more non-hydrogel components or compositions (paragraph 56) and hydrogel absorbs a substantial amount of water (paragraph 55); and
wherein plasticizers include triethyl citrate and tributyl citrate (paragraph 167).
Ethanol is not taught by Feldstein et al. (the instant claim 1), medicinal ingredients are not taught by Feldstein et al. as must have components (the instant claim 6), and urea is not taught by Feldstein et al. (the instant claim 9).
Feldstein et al. do not teach the same plasticizer in the instant claims 2 and 3 in paragraph 223.
This deficiency is cured by Feldstein et al.’s teaching of plasticizers including triethyl citrate and tributyl citrate in paragraph 167.
It would have been prima facie obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to a person of ordinary skill in the art to combine the teachings in paragraph 223 and paragraph 167 in Feldstein et al. to replace the exemplified tributyl citrate plasticizer in paragraph 223 with triethyl citrate. Both triethyl citrate and tributyl citrate being suitable plasticizers in hydrogel was well known to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention. The motivation for replacing the exemplified tributyl citrate plasticizer in paragraph 223 with triethyl citrate flows from both having been used in the prior art, and from both being recognized in the prior art as useful for the same purpose.
Feldstein et al. do not teach water wt% in the instant claims 1 and 10.
This deficiency is cured by Fischer et al. who teach fluid bandage for forming a transparent gel wound dressing film comprises methyl cellulose, etc., and a hydrophilic acrylamide polymer in an aqueous medium (abstract and claim 1) and exemplified in example 8 a composition comprising 88.73% by weight of water assuming water density is 1 g/mL (100/(100+7.5+0.195+5)=100/112.695= 88.73%).
It would have been prima facie obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to a person of ordinary skill in the art to combine the teachings in Feldstein et al. and Fischer et al. to the weight percentage of water in a liquid bandage for forming a hydrogel film being 88.73%. A liquid bandage for forming a hydrogel film comprising 88.73% by weight of water was well known to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention. The motivation for specifying it flows from its having been used in the prior art, and from its being recognized in the prior art as useful for the same purpose.
Correspondence
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to HONG YU whose telephone number is (571)270-1328. The examiner can normally be reached on 9 am - 5:30 pm.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Ali Soroush can be reached on 571-272-9925. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/HONG YU/
Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1614
Prosecution Insights