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 .
Election/Restrictions
Applicant’s election of Group II in the reply filed on 8/10/2026 is acknowledged. Applicants did not specify with or without traverse. Because applicant did not distinctly and specifically point out the supposed errors in the restriction requirement, the election has been treated as an election without traverse (MPEP § 818.01(a)).
Claims 1, 4-8, and 10-11 are withdrawn from further consideration pursuant to 37 CFR 1.142(b) as being drawn to a nonelected Inventions, there being no allowable generic or linking claim. Election was made without traverse in the reply filed on 8/10/2026.
The elected species is depicted here
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. A search for this compound did not return prior art. This compound was indexed into STN in 2023.
The Markush search was extended to a compound of formula II wherein R1 is an three carbon alkoxyl. A search for this compound found prior art. See below.
Priority
This application is a national stage entry of PCT/US2022/048403, which also claims priority to US provisional application 63/275,667. There is also a related US application 18/653,126.
The instant claims find support from PCT/US2022/048403. Therefore, the effective filing date is 10/31/2022.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on 10/11/2024 is in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement is being considered by the examiner.
Current status of 18/707,106
Claims 2, 3, and 9 are examined on the merits.
The claims of 8/10/2026 were examined on the merits.
Claim Objections
Claim 2 is objected to because of the following informalities: In limitation (a) and (d) of claim 2, Applicants should rewrite, for example, C1-C6 to have the correct subscripts (C1-C6). Appropriate correction is required.
Specification
The title of the invention is not descriptive. The disclosure is objected to because of the following informalities: The word “novel” is in the title. A new title is required that is clearly indicative of the invention to which the claims are directed. See MPEP 606.
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.
The factual inquiries 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.
Claim(s) 2 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over ACS (American Chemical Society, Chemical Abstract Service, RN: 1452293-28-5, First made available to the public September 19, 2013) and in view of SILVERMAN (Richard B. Silverman, “The Organic Chemistry of Drug Design and Drug Action”, 2nd ed., Elsevier, 2004).
ACS teaches a compound with a CAS number of 1452293-28-5 (page 1).
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ACS teaches a compound of instant formula (II) wherein R1 CH2CH2SCH3.
ACS does not teach an alkoxyl for R1, but teaches a similar group.
SILVERMAN teaches that oxygen atoms and sulfur atoms are bivalent equivalents (see “Classic Isosteres” table 2.2 on page 29). These bivalent equivalents are otherwise referred to as bioisosteres (page 29). This helps teach claims 1-6.
Bioisosteres are chemical groups that have chemical and physical similarities and which produce broadly similar biological properties. Chemists commonly use bioisosterism to attenuate toxicity or to modify the activity of a lead compound (page 29). Bioisosterism is also used to change pharmaceutical activity, potency, and enzyme affinity (page 32).
Therefore, the artisan would expect that substituting O (arriving at the instant compound) for the S of ACS would result in a compound (of instant formula II wherein R1 is an alkoxyl) that has attenuated toxicity and/or modified pharmaceutical activity/potency since O and S are commonly used as bioisosteres bivalent equivalents in the pharmaceutical arts.
This teaches claim 2.
Conclusion
Claims 3 and 9 are objected to for depending on a rejected base claim.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to GILLIAN A HUTTER whose telephone number is (571)272-6323. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 7:30-5.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Andrew Kosar can be reached at 571-272-0913. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/G.A.H./Examiner, Art Unit 1625 /Andrew D Kosar/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 1625
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