DETAILED ACTION
This office action is in response to applicant’s filing dated June 17, 2026.
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 .
Status of Claims
Claims 16-26 are pending in the instant application. Acknowledgement is made of Applicant's amendments filed June 17, 2026. Acknowledgement is made of Applicant's amendment of claim 20. Claims 1-15 were previously canceled.
Election/Restrictions
Applicant’s election without traverse of Group I, drawn to a method for suppressing enteritis, comprising administering or feeding a composition comprising at least one member selected from the group consisting of sesaminol and a metabolite thereof to a subject in need of suppressing enteritis in the reply filed on June 17, 2026 is acknowledged.
Claims 16-19 and 22-26 are withdrawn from further consideration pursuant to 37 CFR 1.142(b) as being drawn to a nonelected invention, there being no allowable generic or linking claim. Election was made without traverse in the reply filed on June 17, 2026.
Applicant’s election without traverse of formulation comprising sesaminol as elected formulation species in the reply filed on June 17, 2026 is acknowledged.
Claims 20 and 21 are presently under examination as they relate to the elected species: sesaminol.
Priority
The present application is a 371 of PCT/JP2022/037541 filed on October 7, 2022, which claims benefit of foreign priority to JAPAN 2021-166013 filed on October 8, 2021.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statements (IDS) submitted on April 8, 2024; January 29, 2025, and June 10, 2026 are in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statements are being considered by the examiner, except where marked with a strikethrough.
Drawings
Acknowledgement is made of the drawings were received on April 8, 2024. These drawings are accepted.
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 (i.e., changing from AIA to pre-AIA ) 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.
Claims 20 and 21 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Chilton (US 2012/0302632 A1).
Chilton teaches a method of treating an inflammatory disorder in a mammalian subject in need of such treatment comprising administering a composition comprising an effective amount of a [Symbol font/0x44]5 desaturase inhibitor for inhibiting accumulation of arachidonic acid in the serum of said mammalian subject (claim 1), wherein said disorder is Crohn’s disease (claim 3), and wherein the [Symbol font/0x44]5 desaturase inhibitor is sesaminol (claim 6). Thus, Chilton teaches a method of treating Crohn’s disease comprising administering an effective amount of sesaminol.
Crohn’s disease reads on chronic enteritis as evidenced by the instant specification which teaches examples of chronic enteritis include intractable inflammatory bowel disease (page 17, lines 20-22) and examples of intractable inflammatory bowel disease include Crohn’s disease (page 17, lines 25-26).
A method of treating Crohn’s disease comprising administering an effective amount of sesaminol reads on a method of suppressing chronic enteritis as evidenced by the instant specification which teaches composition for suppressing enteritis is administered to treat enteritis (page 17, lines 10-14).
Thus, the teachings of Chilton anticipate the method of claims 20 and 21.
Conclusion
Claims 20 and 21 are rejected.
No claim is allowed.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to RAYNA B RODRIGUEZ whose telephone number is (571)272-7088. The examiner can normally be reached 8am-5:00pm, Monday - Thursday.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Amy L Clark can be reached at 571-272-1310. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/Rayna Rodriguez/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1628
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