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 .
DETAILED ACTION
Claims 14-17 are currently pending and amendments to the claims filed on 06/08/2026 are acknowledged and those claims are being examined.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 15-17 are allowable because there is no motivation to select such species of L-arginine analogs for the production of nitric acid (NO).
Withdrawn rejections:
Applicant's amendments and arguments filed 06/08/2026 are acknowledged and have been fully considered. The Examiner has re-weighed all the evidence of record. Any rejection and/or objection not specifically addressed below are herein withdrawn.
The following rejection and/or objection are either reiterated or newly applied. They constitute the complete set of rejection and/or objection presently being applied to the instant application.
New Grounds of Rejection --- as necessitated by Amendment
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 of this title, 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.
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 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.
This application currently names joint inventors. In considering patentability of the claims the examiner presumes that the subject matter of the various claims was commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the claimed invention(s) absent any evidence to the contrary. Applicant is advised of the obligation under 37 CFR 1.56 to point out the inventor and effective filing dates of each claim that was not commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the later invention in order for the examiner to consider the applicability of 35 U.S.C. 102(b)(2)(C) for any potential 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) prior art against the later invention.
As indicated above, the present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
Claim 14 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Yang et al., “Multifunctional L-arginine magnetic nanoparticles for multiple-synergistic tumor therapy”, Biomaterials Science, January 13, 2021, vol. 9, pages 2230-2243 (IDS of 02/06/2024) in view of Archer et al., “NG-monomethyl-L-arginine causes nitric oxide synthesis in isolated arterial rings: Trouble in paradise”, Biochemical and Biophysical Research Communications, vol. 188, issue 2, 1992-10-30, pp. 590-596 and/or Wu, “Nitric Oxide Synthesis and the Effect of Aminoguanidine and NG-monomethyl-L-Arginine on the Onset of Diabetes in the Spontaneously Diabetic BB Rat”, Diabetes, vol. 44, issue 3, 1995-03-01; and further in view of Wang et al., “Recent advances in porphyrin-based MOFs for cancer therapy and diagnosis therapy”, Coordination Chemistry Reviews, vol. 439, 2021-04-24 (on-line available), pp. 1-30.
Applicant claims instant clam 14 field on 06/08/2026:
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Determination of the scope and content of the prior art (MPEP 2141.01); Ascertainment of the difference between the prior art and the claims (MPEP 2141.02) and Finding of prima facie obviousness Rational and Motivation (MPEP 2142-2143)
Yang discloses multi-functional L-arginine (LA)-based magnetic nanoparticles for multiple-synergistic tumor therapy (title); in this respect, Yang teaches superparamagnetic-co-glycolide (PLGA) nanoparticles (Fe3O4@PLGA/LA NPs) for synergistic breast cancer therapy wherein the NPs contains LA as a core and contains Fe3O4 nanoparticles as a shell, and further indicates the LA spontaneously reacts with hydrogen peroxide in the tumor microenvironment to generate nitric oxide (see e.g., abstract and Fig. 3 on page 2236); and the Fe3O4@PLGA/LA NPs is administered to mouse having tumor to generate nitric oxide (see e.g., 2.4, Fig. 4 and 2.7 on page 2232) wherein the Fe (=iron) reads on the claimed transition metal and carrier material, and thus, the LA compound supported on the carrier (instant claim 14, in part).
Although Yang teaches L-arginine (LA), Yang does not expressly teach L-arginine analogue e.g., NG-monomethyl-L-arginine of instant claim 14. The deficiencies are cured by Archer and/or Wu.
Archer discloses administration of NG-monomethyl-L-arginine (NMMA) reading on the claimed L-arginine analog enhanced nitric oxide synthesis in pulmonary arterial and aortic rings (abstract).
Wu discloses administration of NG-monomethyl-L-arginine (NMMA) reading on the claimed L-arginine analog to diabetic rats produced in vivo NO production (abstract).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to modify the teachings of Yang with specific NMMA of Archer/Wu in order to produce NO in vivo. Please note that the claimed method does not require a method of treating certain disease and thus, within the viewpoint of NO production, Archer/Wu would be combinable with Yang to achieve the claimed invention.
However, Yang does not expressly teach Fe metal organic frameworks (MOFs) carrier containing porphyrin ligand of instant claim 14. The deficiencies are cured by Wang.
Wang discloses porphyrins and porphyrin derivatives are used for e.g., biomedical applications (e.g., biological application in the therapy and diagnosis of cancer) owing to their outstanding photophysical and electrochemical properties, and porphyrin-based metal organic frameworks (MOFs), a family of novel hybrid porous coordination polymers, have been developed and the porphyrin-based MOFs maintain the specific properties of porphyrins and can be loaded or modified with functional molecules or drugs to impart therapeutic and imaging abilities (e.g., abstract); and porous coordination networks (PCN)-222, PCN-224, Fe-MOF are porphyrin-based MOFs can be used for tumor therapy (Table 1 on page 11) (instant claim 14: iron-MOF/porphyrin).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art prior to the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the teachings of Yang/Archer/Wu with MOFs of Wang in order to enhance chemical and optical stability in biological application especially in the therapy and diagnosis of cancer as taught by Wang.
In light of the forgoing discussion, the Examiner concludes that the subject matter defined by the instant claims would have been obvious within the meaning of 35 USC 103.
From the combined teachings of the references, it is apparent that one of ordinary skill in the art would have had a reasonable expectation of success in producing the claimed invention. Therefore, the invention as a whole was prima facie obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was made, as evidenced by the combined references, especially in the absence of evidence to the contrary.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments have been fully considered, but are moot in view of new references of Archer and/or Wu.
Conclusion
No claims are allowed.
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 CFR 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 CFR 1.17(a)) pursuant to 37 CFR 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.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to KYUNG S CHANG whose telephone number is (571)270-1392. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 8-5.
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 use the USPTO Automated Interview Request (AIR) at http://www.uspto.gov/interviewpractice.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Yong (Brian-Yong) S Kwon can be reached at 571-272-0581. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/KYUNG S CHANG/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1613
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